
Class T S1393 

Book .Mg;M5 



MOHAMMED, 



ARABIAN PROPHET. 



A TRAGEDY, 



IN FIVE ACTS. 



BY 

GEORGE H. MILES 



BOSTON: 

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & COMPANY. 

1850. 









Etilered according to Act of Cimsrress. in the year l&W, by 

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON *; CO., 

Ill the Clark's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

II O P, A It T Sc R O B B I N S : 

NEW KNOr.ANn TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOIINDERY, 
n i> s T O N 



ADVERTISEMENT 



The publishers beg leave to state, that in the course 
of the last year, Mr. Edwin Forrest offered a prize of 
One Thousand Dollars for the best original tragedy, in 
five acts. Nearly One Hwidred competitors sent in 
their manuscripts ; and the present volume is the one to 
which the prize was awarded. 

Boston, June, 1850. 



!) 



PREFACE 



The design of this play is to explain the life of Mo- 
hammed, from the age of forty to his death, a period of 
twenty years. Many a single fact, in his extraordinary 
career, furnishes ample material for a play : many a 
fable, too, as Voltaire has proved. The love and apos- 
tasy of Ali and Fatima, breaking Abu Taleb's heart, — 
Ayesha betrothed to Omar, but wrested from him by her 
father, and consigned to the Prophet's arms, — Omar's 
hypocrisy for the sake of revenge ; — plots like this, 
sparkling with brilliant scenes, occurred to tempt me 
from my original design. 

But I found the naked history superior to all the inven- 
tions of imagination. Where the charm is in plot and 
surprise, repetition sickens us ; where the characters 
themselves attract, it delights. 

After all that has been said, the true character of the 
great founder of Islam is but imperfectly understood. 
Had he not sincerely believed in the Unity of God, had 
he not detested idolatry, had he not most fervently 
wished to redeem Arabia from her slavish superstition, 
had he not been in earnest in all this, he could not have 
accomplished such great and permanent results. Yet, 
at the very outset of his career, when his motives were 
purest, his fidelity to Cadijah unimpeached, we know 



that he was guilty of wilful deceit and imposture. For, 
admitting that the appearance of Gabriel and the Mesra 
were delusions of zealot fancy or of the devil, yet surely 
he could not dupe himself so far as to believe that the 
angel handed him the Koran, which he either wrote 
himself, or received from a hired scribe. Here is the 
difficulty : not only have we to reconcile truth and false- 
hood, sincerity and deceit, — for, in most historically great 
men, there is more or less of this, — but we are deal- 
ing with one, who, believing himself a Prophet, asserts 
it by imposture, — the messenger of Allah preparing 
mankind by a deliberate lie for the reception of Eternal 
Truth. 

From this point of view, the play was written. The 
brevity required in representation on the stage (at which 
I aimed) compelled me to omit much that might support 
my interpretation of this "sincere impostor." Truth 
rarely floats on the surface of history ; it is only by look- 
ing long into the stream, that we see the jewel lurking 
in the bed. 

Goethe thought of bringing Mohammed on the German 
stage, but contented himself with translating Voltaire. 
" The piece began with a hymn, which Mohammed sings 
alone, under the open sky. First he adores the innu- 
merable stars, as so many gods ; then rises the friendlj'' 
star Gad, our Jupiter, and to him, as the king of the 
stars, new adoration is offered. Soon the moon rises, 
and wins the eye and heart of the worshipper, who next, 
greatly refreshed and strengthened, is summoned to new 
praise by the ascending sun. But these changes, how- 
ever delightful, are still unsatisfactory, and the mind 



PREFACE. VII 

feels that it must rise yet above itself ; it rises to God, 
the Only, Eternal, Infinite, to whom all these splendid, 
yet limited creatures, owe their existence. After, in this 
way, he had converted himself, he imparts these feelings 
and ideas to his friends. His wife and Ali become his 
disciples, without reserve. In the second act, he attempts, 
and Ali with still greater ardor than he, to propagate 
this faith in the tribe. Assent and opposition appear, 
according to the variety of characters. The feud begins, 
the strife becomes violent, and Mohammed is compelled 
to flee. In the third act, he overcomes his adversaries, 
makes his religion the public one, and purifies the Kaaba 
from idols ; but as all this cannot be done by power, he 
is obliged to resort to cunning. The earthly increases 
and extends itself; the Divine retires, and is obscured. 
In the fourth act, Mohammed pursues his conquests, 
and his doctrine becomes a pretence rather than an end ; 
all conceivable means must be employed, and barbarities 
become abundant. A woman, whose husband has been 
put to death by his order, poisons him. In the fifth act, 
he feels that he is poisoned. His great calmness, — the 
return to himself, to a higher life, — make him worthy 
of admiration. He purifies his doctrine, establishes his 
kingdom, and dies." — Foetry and Truth. 

It may be inferred that I copied Goethe, varying the 
fifth act to suit my own convictions : but, though it is no 
reproach to borrow from the great German, the resem- 
blance is entirely accidental. 

It is no compliment to Christianity, to make Moham- 
med a monster ; it is rather a bitter sneer at human cre- 
dulity. The lesson conveyed by the life and death of 



VIII PREFACE. 

the Arabian impostor, is the inability of the greatest man, 
starting with the purest motives, to counterfeit a mission 
from God, without becoming the slave of hell. 

Caled, Cadijah, Ali, Fatima, and Abu Taleb, are true 
to history ; Amrou and Abubeker, only moderately so. 
The view of Omar is new, perhaps unjust ; Ayesha's 
passion for Ali, only plausible. The introduction of 
Sophian into the fifth act was a concession to unity 
of action. It was hard enough to support a continuous 
action, without maintaining, at the same time, a rigid ad- 
herence to co7ijechcres about the manner of the Prophet's 
death. The Arabian Nights, which, as Lane truly says, 
are the best and truest pictures of Arabian manners, 
morals, and customs, may warrant the administration of 
the powder ; and the Prophet's secret trust in charms is 
mentioned by tradition. 

Since Mr. Forrest's decision, the tragedy has remained 
untouched ; as submitted to him, it now appears. It is 
a pleasure again to acknowledge the generosity which 
tempted and rewarded this first venture in a perilous 
field. 

Baltimore, March 30th, 1850. 



MOHAMMED 



DRAMATIS PERSONiE. 



I 



Mohammed — The Prophet. 

Omar — An ambitious noble of Mecca. 

\ Neutral 
Abubeker — The richest man in Mecca. 

Abu Taleb — Mohammed's uncle. 

Ali — Abu Taleb' s son. 

Caled — A soldier, and a fanatic. ) 

A AM- 1 ^ •■. ^/-, , 1, ? Inclined to Sophian, 

Amrou — A soldier, and a friend of Caled's. ) 

SoPHiAN — Of the family of Ommeya, — hostile to Mohammed. 

Saad — 



--! 



. Two magnates of Medina. 

OSAID 

Zeid — Mohammed's slave. 
Soldiers, Senators, Bedouins, &;c. 

Cadijah — Mohammed's first wife. 
Ayesha — His second wife. 
Fatima — His daughter. 

The scene is partly in Mecca, and partly in Medl 



MOHAMMED 



ACT I 



Scene I. Night of Al Kadir. — Cave of Hara, three miles 
from Mecca. — Mohammed is seen prostrate upon the slope of 
a rock, resembling a rude pedestal, his face concealed hy his 
turban. Enter Cadi j ah. 

Cadijah (looking timidly around.) He bade me 

meet him here, before the moon 

Had silvered half the night; — but, as he spoke, 

His flashing eyes were full of mystery ; 

His words were few, and stern, and tremulous, 

And, knotted on his brow, the laboring vein' 

So fiercely swelled, that in his nervous grasp 

I quivered like a leaf, — and still my heart 

Seems not to beat, but, with my creeping flesh, 

To shudder. Yes — I tremble still. {She sees him.) 

Asleep? (>S%e arppronches^ and bends over him.) 
1 



MOHAMMED. 



Asleep ! — O, sweet surprise — I breathe again ! 

{She embraces him.) 
Son of Abdallah and Amina, hear ! 
Mohammed, wake ! {She tries to rouse him.) 
'T is strange ! — his shnnbers ever 
Fled at the gentlest whisper of my voice, 
Or at the faintest murmur of his babes. 

{She tries agaiti to wake him.) 
Awake ! Awake ! 'T is thy Cadijah calls thee ! 

{She starts vp.) 
Alas, this is not sleep ! Some evil spirit 
O'ershadows thee: — and, with prophetic soul, 
Thou didst invoke Cadijah's presence here, 
To share thy danger or avert the spell. 

{She falls upon her knees, with her hack to him.) 
Hear, great Taala ! gleaming Sirius, hear ! 
Al Uzza, Hobal, guardian gods of Mecca, 
Assist me now ! 

{At the mention of these idols, Mohammed lifts 

his head : as she pronounces the last loords, he 

rises, with his eyes fixed on the top of the rock.) 

Mohammed. Gone ! — G one ! — Celestial mes- 

senger ! 



MOHAMMED. 3 

Angel of light! — Whence came those damned 
somids ? 
Cad. My own dear lord ! 
Moh. What ! — thou ? — Begone ! Away ! 
The ground is holy ! — Yes — 't was there — 't was 

there 
The angel stood, in more than mortal splendor, 
Before my dazzled vision ! — I have heard thee. 
Ambassador from Allah to my soul, 
Have heard, and will obey ! 

(JEZe bows reverently before the rock.) 
Cad. Alas, he raves ! 
My lord, what aileth thee? 

Moh. Cadijah ! — Tell me, — 
Was it from thy most pure and cherished lips 
Those names accursed fell ? 

Cad. What names, dear lord ? 
Moh. Al Uzza, Hobal. Sirius — Pah! they 
choke me — 
The names by which the idols are invoked ! 
Cad. Yes, I did ask our gods to bless thee. 
Moh. Hush! — 
Call them not gods — those blind and monstrous 
idols. 



4 MOHAMMED. 

Those crude deformities, misshapen lumps 

Of hfeless clay ! — There is no God but One, — 

Mohammed is his Prophet! — Never more 

Repeat those names where I may hear the sound, — 

Nor ever more to them thy spotless heart 

Uplift in prayer, — and never more, I charge thee, 

If thou dost prize my love, pollute the name, — 

The sacred and illustrious name I bear, — 

By asking those foul shapes of hell to bless it ! 

Nay, weep not thus ; I did not mean to chide thee. 

My dear Cadijah. Hast thou long been here 7 

Cad. Not long. 

Moh. Where was I when thou camest ] 

Cad. There, 
Stretched on that rock, as if in sleep profound, 
Thy mantle covering thy face. 

Moh. Didst see 
Aught else 7 

Cad. Naught else, Mohammed. 

Moh. Was there nothing 
Upon the summit of that rock 7 

Cad. No, nothing. 

Moh. To me, alone, of all the sons of earth, 



MOHAMMED. ( 

That soul-entrancing vision is vouchsafed ! 
Hear me, Cadijah. Thou rememberest well 
When first I led to fruitful Syria 
Thy caravan : my fifteenth summer still 
Was blooming in my cheeks. I there beheld 
The rites of Jew and Christian, and oft heard 
The precepts of their sacred volumes. Then 
The unknown truths, of which my pining soul 
Had vaguely dreamed, began to dawn in beauty. 
In solitude and silence, years rolled by : 
Scorning idolatry, mistrusting all 
The subtle heresies of monk and Jew, 
Mine eye, unsatisfied, was ever raised 
To its Creator, asking light ! light ! light ! 
It came, at last, Cadijah — here! — this night! — 
This very hour ! 

Cad. What mystery is this ! 

Moh. Ah I the tremendous recollection bursts 
So vividly upon me, that my tongue 
Grows cold and speechless. I was here alone. 
Expecting thee, when, suddenly, I heard 
My name pronounced, with voice more musical 
Than Peri warbling in the dreamy ear. 
1^ 



MOHAMMED. 

Ravished, I turned, and saw upon that rock. 
Resplendent hovering there, an angel form : 

1 knew 'twas Gabriel, Allah's messenger. 
Celestial glories compassed him around ; 
Arched o'er his splendid head, his glistening wings 
Shed light, and musk, and melody. No more^ 

I saw, — no more my mortal eye could bear. 
Prone on my face I fell, and, from the dust, 
Besought him quench his superhuman radiance. 
" Look up ! " he said : I stole a trembling glance; 
And there, a beauteous youth, he stood and smiled. 
Then, as his ruby lips unclosed, I heard — ' 
" Goj teach what mortals know not yet — There is 
No God but One, — Mohammed is his Prophet ! " 
E'en as he spoke, his mantling glories burst 
With such transporting brightness, that, o'erawed, 
I sunk in dizzy trance, which still might thrall 
My inmost soul, had not those impious names, 
Breathing of hell, dispelled it. 

Cad. My Mohammed ! 

Moh. Cadijah ! 

Cad, I am lost in deep amazement : 
Thy words so marvellous — thy eyes and manner 
So earnest, and so full of truth ! 



MOHAMMED. J 

Moh. Believe ! — 
My mission is to all mankindj but first 
To thee I Dost thou believe 7 

Cad. My lord! 

Moh. My wife ! 
Believe ! — for though thy breath is half my life, 
And though I hold thy deep maternal love 
Dearer than all the wealth that lines the sea, 
Or decks the Persian priest, or tyrant Greek, — 
Dearer than all the beauty in the world 
Gathered and moulded into one fair woman, — 
Yet, by the throne of Allah, whose commands 
Possess my soul, if thou believest not, 
With thy whole heart and mind, thou shalt expire, 
A victim to thy infidelity ! 

(^She falls upon her knees.) 
Who will believe, if thou art recreant? 
Who will receive, if thou dost turn away ? 
Who will adore, if thou shalt still refuse 
To bend thy stubborn knee? 'T is writ above, 
By angel fingers, with a pen of light, 
Upon the mystic tablets, which contain 
Th' eternal scheme fulfilled and unfulfilled, 
Thou shalt believe, and shalt be blest forever ! 



8 MOHAMMED. 

Blest in the shadow of the Tuba tree — 
Blest in the pearl-paved garden of Al Jainiat — 
Blest at the sweet and fragrant fount of Tasnim — 
Blest in the midst of Allah and his angels ! — 
Exalt thy heart in praise and gratitude ! — 
Confess ! confess there is no God but One, — 
Mohammed is his Prophet ! 

Cad. {jprostrate at his feet^ Yes, there is 
No God but One, — Mohammed is his Prophet. 

{Whilst she speaks^ ivith her face buried in her 
hands ^ Mohammed silently gloats over his iri- 
iimph.) 

Moh. (^raising her in his arms.) Thus to my 
breast once more, my only idol ! 
These tears are still more precious than the pearls 
Of Paradise ; and angels, now ascending. 
Waft the pure offering to their greeting King. 
But let us gird our camels, since, ere morn 
Points out the east, we must depart for Mecca, 
There to unfold this wondrous revelation 
To Ali and our daughter Fatima; — 
For, next to thee, in virtue and in love, 
They next shall tread the path to Paradise ! 

{^Exeunt Mohammed and Cadijah.) 



MOHAMMED. 9 

Scene IT. Square before the Temple, at sunrise. Enter Omar, 
hurled in thought. 

Omar. Where shall I find a stepping-stone to 
power ? — 
Men laud my wisdom — could my wisdom win 
Authority, a diadem of pearls 
Should ornament and recompense my brains. 
What 's wisdom, if it cannot benefit 
Its master? 

(He folds his arms on his breasl, and muses. 
Enter Abubeker.) 

Abubeker {touching Omar.) Thinking, Omar, 
— ever thinking. 

Omar. Thought 's an infirmity to which I 'm 
subject. 

Abub. A pestilence that blackens you all over. 
Thinking of what ? 

Om. The future ! 

Abub. {bowing^ in mock reverence.) Prophesy. 

Om. Our governor Abu Taleb 's failing fast; 
The peace of Mecca hangs upon his life ; 
The rival lines of Hashem and Ommeya 
Will light their feuds around his funeral torch. 



10 MOHAMMED. 

Abub. Sophian, the Ommeyite, must prevail. 
Ali, our governor's son. is but a boy, 
Artless, all fire and impulse, and a poet. 
As for Mohammed, he consumes his life 
Moping in Hara's cave or housed in Mecca, 
Shunning all intercourse with man or God : 
I know not wliat lie means. 

Oin. He 's not the man 
To be absorbed in nothing, Abubeker : 
Rely upon it. he means something. 

Abub. {s)ieeritig.) Means ! 
Sophian' s action 's too much for his meaning. 
Caled, Amroii, with more than half the army. 
And all the Bedouin tribes, are fast Ommeyites. 
Two thirds of Mecca clamor foi Sophian — 
The masses make the governor. 

Om. And may 
Unmake him too. 

Abub. He has the people with him. 

Om. And soon may have them on him. 

Abub. Will you not 
Vote for him ? 

Om. No ! — the shallow demagogue, — 



MOHAMMED.^ 11 

Bold, if you please, and crafty, but Avithout 
One element of greatness ! — had I half 
Your wealth, / W run agamst him. 

Abnh. And be crushed. 
Ah, Omar, bless your poverty ! 

Om. {with affected humility.') I do. 

Abnh. You will not vote for Ali or Moham- 
med? 

Om. I 'm neutral. [That is, for myself.] aside. 

Abnh. And I 
Am neutral too — at present. 

Om. Well remembered, friend ; 
^h^ future '5 for ourselves. But lo ! here comes 
Sophian. I despise him : — see, the temple 
Invites our prayers. {Exeunt Omar and Abubeker.) 
( Enter Soph ian . ) 

Sophian. Old men are just as slow 
In dying, as in everything they do. 
One old man's life is all that stands betvveen 
Me and that aim and summit of my hopes, — 
To govern Mecca ; — but he loill not die ! 
Ah, here he is, and weaker, thank the gods ! 



12 MOHAMMED. 

{Enter Abn Taleh.) 
Hail to the honored Governor of Mecca ! 
Hail, Abu Taleb ! I am filled with joy, 
To see thy cheeks still ruddy with the bloom 
Of youth. 

Abu Taleb. No, no : these thin and frosty locks, 
Whitened by fourscore years, are drooping down 
O'er cheeks as pallid as themselves. My stream 
Will soon be lost among the sands.^ 

Soph. The gods 
Forbid ! 

A. Tal I thank thee. 

Soph. May we soon expect 
Mohammed, thy dear nephew, from the cave 
Of Hara? 

A. Tal. Ere the day has closed, I hope. 

{Exit Abn Taleb.) 

Soph. Ay, totter on, thou withered Hashemite! 
Soon must the grave, now gaping, close on thee ; 
And then, Sophian 's Governor of Mecca ! 

{Going to the side.) 
My gallant kinsmen, Caled and Amrou, 
The jewels of our army. 



MOHAMMED. 13 

{Enter Caled and Amrou.) 
Hail, my friends ! 
Aught of Mohammed 7 

Amrou. As we passed the house 
Where gentle Fatima, Mohammed's daughter, 
Makes maiden music, — thinking to obtain 
A glimpse of her reputed loveliness, 
We paused awhile : when, as we stood, her cousin 
Ali, the fiery son of Abu Taleb, 
Marched proudly by us, stepping loftily — 
Thought in his eye, and thunder on his brow — 
And vanished through the door. 

Soph. He must have come. 

Am. Or else — well ! 

Soph. Caled, have you marked, of late. 
The sudden change in this Mohammed's manner — 
How sternly through the Caaba he sweeps. 
Frowning upon our venerated idols. 
Nor bowing e'en before the agate shafts 
Of purple Hobal? 

Caled. I have marked him oft, 
And thought contempt, instead of reverence, lurked 
Within his eye. 
2 



14 MOHAMMED. 

Soph. And, Caled, did the sight 
Not send the indignant blood against thy cheek ? 

Cal. No, or it would have quickly sent my hand 
Against my sword : but I am more offended, 
When, stiff with majesty, he stalks along, 
Hugging himself in solemn dignity, 
As if, perforce, he mingled with mankind, 
And spurned us, to commune with some wise god 
Within him. 

Am. Lo !. Mohammed's bondsman, Zeid. 
{Enter Zeid.) 

Zeid (bowing.) Masters, Mohammed asks you 
to his board. 
Before an hour has passed; for he has tidings 
Deeply affecting you, and full of joy. 

Ccd. I shall attend. 

Am. And I. 

Soph. Not I, by Heaven ! — 
I 've done with aught that smacks of Hasbem's 
blood. {Exit Zeid.) 

Am. Nonsense ! Mohammed never injured you ; 
Let Hashem and Ommeya fight it out, 



MOHAMMED. 15 

With bones and ashes, in the other world : 
Our ancestors should not control our tastes. 

Cal. " Deeply affecting us, and full of joy" — 
What tidings these '] 

Am. Of mines of gold, perhaps, 
Discovered in Mount Hara. Come, Sophian ! 

Soph. I tell thee, no: his condiments would 
choke me ! 

Am. We '11 give you decent burial. 

Cal. Do not fret him. 

Am. Well, Heaven be praised, my gullet 's not 
so tender.^ (^Exeunt Caled and Am?oii.) 

Soph. Ay, let them feed and drink ! — high- 
reaching thoughts 
Shall pamper my ambition. There 's young Ali, 
A vain, romantic fool — a doting lover, — 
Too young to care, too weak to scheme for power, — 
And mad Mohammed, whose ignoble soul, 
Incapable of soaring, never felt 
Ambition's goad, — these are my only rivals : 
With Caled and Amrou on either hand, 
I feel already governor elect !^ {E.vU Sophian.) 



16 MOHAMMED. 

Scene III. Apartment at Mohammed^ s — a table set for din- 
ner, containing simply a lamb and a bowl of milk. — As the 
scenes part, Mohamined is discovered between Alt and Fatima^ 
who are kneeling on the right and left, each with a hand in his. 

Mohammed. Now, while the heavens are listen- 
ing — while the tree, 
Whose tuneful leaves perpetual music shed 
O'er Paradise, is mute. — pronounce again 
Those blessed words ! 

Ali and Fatima. There is no God but One, — 
Mohammed is his Prophet ! 

Moh. Lo ! the ranks 
Of white- winged Cherubim inchne their heads. 
To drink these accents. Rise, my children, rise ! 

{They rise?) 

My cousin Ali, if I read aright 

Thy ardent soul, my daughter Fatima 

Will make the roseate earth a fitting path 

To that sweet heaven I promise thee ; but faith 

Alone deserves, and faith alone can win her. 

{Raising her veil.) 
Dost love her, Ali ? 

Ali Love her ! — life has been 

One tribute to her ! Is there in the past 

A thought that was not of her? — can the future 



MOHAMMED. 17 

Reflect a wish that is not burning for her? 

O, Fatima ! 

{As AH springs towards her, Mohammed drops 

her veil, aiid steps between them.) 
Moh. (to Fatima.) Rejoin thy mother, child, — 
Apply some cooling balsam to her brow ; 
'T was aching when I left her. 

{Exit Fatima. Mohammed paces the stage.) 
It is time 

Our guests were here. — If they should mock me, 
cousin — 
AH. My scimitar shall cleave the mocker's head ! 
Moh. Nay, generous boy ; not thus a prophet 
proves 
His inspiration ; not by vengeful steel 
Must Islam triumph, but by charity, 
Meekness and patience, kindness, hope and faith. 
Spirit of Light ! Eternal Unity ! 
Why hast thou chosen one so impotent 
To be thy servant ? Breathe into my soul 
Part of thy power ; assist my nothingness ; 
Light this congealed blood ; inflame my soul ; 

Steel me 'gainst human fear and human love ! 

2^ 



18 MOHAMMED. 

Behold — I stand against the world, — alone! ^ 
Alone! {^Looking fixedly at AIL) 

AIL No ! not alone whilst Ali lives. 
May my arm shrivel like a burning scroll, 
May my tongue blacken in my putrid mouth. 
May each firm limb, that now exults in youth. 
With ulcers fester, and with palsy shake, 
Ere I desert thee ! 

Moh. O, my son ! my son ! 
Thy faith exalts thee o'er the angels. 

{Eiiter Zeid.) 

Zeid. Master, 
Thy guests approach thy threshold. 

Moh. They are welcome ; 
Conduct them hither. {Exit Zeid.) 
How our friends will stare, 
When, entering, they perceive a bowl of milk, 
And one selected lamb, their sole refreshment ! ' 

{Enter Zeid^ ushering Abu Taleb, Abiibeker, Omar^ 
Caled^ Amrou.) 
Abu Taleb. Welcome, my nephew, from thy 
dark retreat. 
Welcome to Mecca and thy uncle's arms ! 



MOHAMMED. 19 

Moh. (embracing him.) Thanks, noble Abu 
Taleb ! 

A. Tal And thy wife, 
Cadijah — is she well ? ' 

Moh. A sudden fever 
Burned in her veins this morning ; but the cool 
And tender touch of night will banish it. 

A. Tal She is too delicate a plant to feel 
Fever's Simoom-like breath. 

(^He turns to Ali^ as Mohammed welcomes the 
others.) 
What brought my son 
So swiftly here 7 — Aha ! the proverb 's true, 
That love can make the eager foot of youth 
Fleet as the horse of Nejed.^ 

(Mohamined advances^ in a reverie.) 

Ornar (to Abubeker.) How his brow 
Labors with thought ! 

Moh. (waking up.) Thrice welcome, noble 
guests ! 
I miss Sophian. (He relapses into the reverie.) 

Abubeker (to Omar.) How his bosom heaves ! 



20 MOHAMMED. 

Om. Mark me, — there 's something great within 
the man, 
Struggling for utterance. 

Ainroii {to Caled.) Caled, have you seen 
Our entertainment — sheep's meat on a dish. 
And cow's milk in a bowl ? I am afraid 
Of choking. 

Caled. Do you see Mohammed? 
Am. (shaking his head.) Mad ! 
A. Tal. Mohammed ! Nephew ! What oppress- 
es thee ? 
Speak ! Art thou sick ? — Mohammed ! 

Moh. {starting and recovej^ing.) Well! — for- 
give me, 
For there are shapes that flit before my view, 
Invisible to ye. But come and share 
A primitive repast. 

(^Mohammed conducts Abu Taleb to the table ; the 
rest folloxo^ with AIL They sit, at a gesture 
from Mohammed.') 
The feast, to-day, 

Is for the spirit, not its clay companion.^ 
I ofler you no soul-subduing wine. 



MOHAMMED. 21 

Nor grape, nor olive from the groves of Yemen, 

Nor meats enriched with spices that once flung 

Their gay aroma o'er the Indian ocean; — 

{He rises.) 
I offer you what gold can never buy, 

Or sabre win, or prince or priest bestow — 

Islam and Eden ! ( They all spring up.) 

Hear me, sons of Adam ! 

The angel Gabriel in Mount Hara's cave 

Appeared, last night, and thundered in mine 

ear,— 

" Go, Prophet of the true and only God, 

Announce to man the glory of thy Master ! " 

And here, obedient to that voice divine, 

Now, while his touch immortal thrills my soul, — 

Now, when a power supernal drives me on, — 

I call you to the service of the true 

And only God ! Renounce your lifeless idols ! 

To Allah turn, and quit your mummery ! 

A. Tal. Blasphemer, cease ! 

Moh. Will any here consent 
To be my brother and my vizier ? (^A pause.) 
None 7 (^Looking at AH.) 



22 MOHAMIVIED. 

AIL Yes. glorious prophet, I will be thy vizier ! 
Woe to the man whose recreant arm or voice 
Is raised against thee ! 

Am. Pigmy thunder ! 

AH (approaching him menacingly.) What ! 

Am,. Durst thou thus menace me with kindling 
eye? (^Grasping the hilt of his scimitar.) 

Ali. Yes, if thou disbelievest 1 

( They draw. Mohammed and Abu Taleb inter- 
pose.) 

A. Tal. Ah, hold ! 
AmroLi, the Governor of Mecca asks 
Thy patience. 

Am. Keep thy son within due bounds, 
Or he may tempt me to forget his youth, 
And thy commands. 

Moh. Remember, dearest Ali, 
We must rejoice in insult, not resent it. 

( They put up their swords.) 

A. Tal. Mohammed, I am stunned : thy mind, 
I fear. 
Upon the very brink of madness totters. 
Alas ! is reason out forever 7 

Moh. No! — 



MOHAMMED. 23 

But Allah's new-born light has taught my soul 
To soar above your childish superstition — 
Your mental prostitution. Reason quenched ? — 
No. by the book of fate, it just begins 
To burn ! 

A. Tal. Then, canst thou ask us to fall down 
And worship thee ? 

Moh. Not 7ne, but Him who sends me. 
I do not say, this mortal flesh is rich 
With God's own essence and angelic ichor. 
Or cry, "My right hand holds the key of heaven ! " 
I claim not to have scanned the hidden things 
Locked in the eternal breast; — I ask but this, — 
Believe what is revealed. 

Am. Revealed to whom ? 

Moh. To me. 

Aw;. To thee? — but there must also be 
A revelation unto us, that there has been 
This revelation unto thee : or else 
Perform a miracle, and prove thy mission. 
For instance, bring to hfe this roasted lamb, 
And send it bleating to that bowl of milk. 

{They lai/g-h.) 

Moh. Laugh on — I bend my head submissively. 



24 MOHAMMED. 

Since time began, the prophet's foot has pressed 

The thorn; — and curses greet him from the hps 

He came to bless. But tremble while ye laugh, — 

The past is fearful with the scoffer's doom. 

You ask for miracles : if Allah wills 

That light should reach your hearts, no miracle 

Is needed ; but if, wounded by your pride. 

He wills it not, though troops of angels came, 

Refulgent in celestial drapery, 

To win your faith, ye still would disbelieve : 

E'en if they built a ladder to the skies, 

Ye would not climb, suspecting sorcery. 

{^He goes into the reverie.') *° 
A. Tal Urge him no more: it may prolong 

this fit. 
Om. And let us leave him in respectful silence. 
If he be mad, 't is manliness to spare him : 
If sane, we should reflect before condemning. 
Am. My lips are sealed. What dost thou gaze 

at, Caled? 
Cat. {looking at Mohammed.') At that majestic 
face, rebuking insult. 
If this be madness, 't is a noble thing. 

{Exeunt Omar. Ahnbeker. Caled and Amron.) 



MOHAMMED. 25 

Moh. {to Zeid.) Go, tell Cadijah to array oiir 
daughter 
In robes of virgin- white ; and, if her brow 
Be cooler, say we ask her presence here, 
Together with her child. {Exit Zeid.) 
[Heaven send them soon !] {aside.) 
My cousin Ah, while thy heart still glows 
With fervor, borrowed from immortal fires, 
Devote thyself to thy Creator I 

{Seizing AWs hcwd.) 
A. Tal {tearing their hands apart.) Hold ! 
Moh. Beware, rash man! thwart not the wi! I 

of Allah. 
A. Tal. Is it that ye are mad, or that my vision 
With some absurd delusion cheats itself? 
Thou art not my nephew — nor is this my son — 
Or, being so,— I am not Abu Taleb ! 
Mohammed, drop this sacrilegious mask — 
Repent this plain imposture ! 

Moh. Abu Taleb, 
Rescind thy compact with the mocking demons. 
That hold their revels round your hell-born idols. 
3 



26 M O H A M I\I E D . 

A. Tal My Ali, canst thou steep these wintry 
hairs 
In deeper sorrow than they ever knew ? 
Canst thou condemn these pale and withered 

lips, 
That kissed thy cradle, to unuttered shame 7 
Canst thou make fountains of these aged eyes, 
That looked to thee to wipe away their tears ? 
Canst thou inflict upon the failing limbs, 
That gave thee life and strength, a hideous palsy ? 

AIL O, father, spare me ! 

Moh. Ali, is the curse 
Of man more fearful than the wrath of God ? 
Is filial anguish worse than endless torture ? 
Wilt thou insult thy God to spare thy sire 7 
Condemn thyself to everlasting flame, 
To save thy father from mistaken grief '? 

{E?iier Cadijah, leaning on Fatimo^ wJio is veiled 

and attired, as a bride.) 
Remember, thou hast pledged thyself to me — 
Behold the witness ! 

{He lifts the veil from Fatimd' s face.) 



MOHAMMED. 27 

A, Tal (^pointing to AH.) Ay, behold the vic- 
tim! 
O ! AH, Alij has it come to this ? 
Dost thou renounce the love that gave thee life, 
To win the kisses of a blooming girl? 
Can peace and happy issue crown your union, 
When thou dost send me childless to the tomb ? 

Moh. (^joining their hands, and imposing his 
on their heads,) My son, receive thy bride! — 

Though mortals frown, 
And with envenomed tongue invoke the prince 
Of hell to curse this holy consummation, — 
Yet angel hands are lighting countless tapers, 
Are strewing Paradise with dewy flowers. 
Are waking all the harps of Heaven at once. 
In rapturous symphony, — and viewless wings 
Around your couch will hover, and keep guard. 
Whilst Allah's smile, like softest perfume falling. 
Will bless your slumbers and prolong your loves ! 

A. Tal. {interposing.) Give way ! 

{They fall back.) 
{To Mohammed.) Did I not cherish thee, before 
Thy foot grew firm beneath thine infant weight '? 



28 



M O H A BI M E D . 



Moh. {kissing Abu Taleb's hand^ reverently.) 
When death dissolved my mother's last embrace, 
I fell into thy arms, — and found a parent. 

A. Tal. And is my recompense these scalding 
tears, — 
This bleeding heart 7 

Moh. Bear witness. Thou, whose eye 
Numbers each leaf that falls — each particle 
That slumbers in impenetrable darkness, — 
I would consent to bear the keenest torture 
By subtle Jew or cunning Greek devised, 
Rather than force from these dear eyes one tear. 
But now — the man is lost within the prophet, — 
The voice of Allah is my only will ; 
Before his high command, all earthly ties 
Melt like the morning mist ; and though his hand 
Crush my bruised heart with all its best affections. 
Still, with a harrowed breast and tear- worn cheek, 
I '11 stagger through the wreck of human feeling, 
And, toiling upward, scale the mount of God — 
Fulfil my mission, and obtain my crown ! 

A. Tal. {embracing AH and Fatima.) I meant 
to curse ; but I am weak with age 



MOHAMMED. 29 

And love. My children, may the ancient gods, 

Who watch o'er Mecca and its holy Temple, 

Who brought your childhood to maturity, 

Who bade the fountain vivify the desert, — 

May these benign protectors shelter ye. 

And with their benefits compel your worship. 

Moh. (advcmcingj and again spreading his 

hands over AH arid Fatima.') Eternal Allah, let 

sincerity 

Atone for blasphemy; and, in thy mercy, 

Forgive his ignorance, reward his love ! 

( Curtain falls.) 
3* 



ACT II. 

Scene I. Sunset. — Temple of Mecca. — A group of Arabs, clad 

' in the white ihram, kneeling before the statue of Hobal, which 

is enclosed in a rich pavilion. — Enter Mohammed through the 

gate of Bab Abbas in the back-ground, in his green mantle. 

He stands awhile, with his arms folded, gazing at the idolaters. 

Mohammed (laughing scornfully.) Ha ! — 

( The Arabs start up.) 
I could laugh to see ye prostitute 
Immortal souls before that soulless agate, 
Did not the recollection of the doom 
That bursts with death upon the idolater 
Shake my pale cheek, and steep my heart in gall. 
O, men of Mecca ! I have wept for ye, 
Until the fountains of my eyes are dry ! — 

{Enter Abu Taleb^ from behind^ unobsei-ved.) 

How long must I entreat ye, with a smile — 
How long must I command ye, with a frown — 
To listen to the God who wields my tongue ? 
Kiss the celestial stone, by Gabriel brought 



MOHAMMED. 31 

From Paradise, and laid at Abraham s feet, — * 
Drink of the spring that scooped its basin here,*^ 
When Hagar, with her infant in her arms. 
Fell fainting in the desert, and the sands 
Turned 'neath her lips to water, — but. if men, — 
If reason sparkle in the rebel mind, 
Where Heaven enthroned it, — crouch not, like the 

brute, 
Licking the feet of this accursed idol ! 

Abn Taleb {advancing.') Ye men of Mecca, by 
your general vote 
Invested with unsought authority, 
I warn ye, shun Mohammed's impious voice ! 
Our gods are kind enough ; we need no others. 
They make our camels fruitful ; clothe our steeds 
With strength and swiftness; teach our fields to 

bloom 
With vines and herbage, and the mellow date ; 
Invest our wives with loveliness, and power 
To reproduce their virtues and our own ; — 
Be grateful ! 

Moh. Yes, be grateful ; but transfer 
Your gratitude to Him who merits it. 



32 MOHAMMED. 

'T is Allah makes the earth your bed, and Heaven 
Your canopy ; from Him the rains descend, — 
Wake the dead clay to verdure and to hfe ; 
'T is Allah's breath impels the freighted bark, 
His guiding stars direct her midnight prow ; 
'T is Allah moves the spheres in harmony, 
And drives the fiery sun through endless space. 
Diffusing radiance o'er the universe ; — 
Allah, whose angels chase the pregnant clouds 
With twisted sheets of fire, — Allah, who arched 
The blue illimitable firmament, 
And swung it sparkling in the orient air, 
Its only pillar his supporting hand ; — 
The pealing thunder celebrates his praise, 
The living bolt proclaims his majesty ! 
This is the God who claims your gratitude. 
Whose word alone from nothing drew the heavens. 
Earth, man and angels. Mortals, choose between 
His Prophet and your Governor — between 
A throne with Moses, and a pit with Eblis. 

A. Tal. Beware ! — the pity of our outraged 
gods 
May turn to vengeance. 



MOHAMMED. 33 

{Sophian enters.^ unobserved^ from behind.) 
Moh. Have I not declared 
That Allah shelters me, —that all the arts 
Of man or demon cannot harm one hair 
Around my temples ? — Look ! — I laugh to scorn 
Your idols and their vengeance !— Bring them 

all — 
Men, eagles, lions, antelopes, — count out ^ 
The full four hundred — pile the monsters here, — 
And, if ye shrink not from the experiment, 
1 '11 set them, one by one, beneath my feet, 
And spurn the helpless mass ! 

^opkian (advancing.) And then, forsooth, 
Thy cry would be, — '' Come, worship me, — Be- 
hold, 
Mohammed 's greater than your deities ! " 
Children of Mecca, listen, while I prove. 
By his own method, that the least among you 
Surpasses Allah. (Turning' to Mohammed.) 
I defy this Allah! — 
Reject his mercy and despise his power ; 
Render him visible, and I will scorn 
Thy Allah, as I scorn his Prophet ! 



34 MOHAMMED. 

(^During this defiance^ Mohammed appeals to 
Heaven^ with uplifted hands. ^ 

Moh, Spare ! 
Fountain of mercy, spare him ! 

(JEZe turns to Sophian.) 

See ! — my prayer 

Has stayed the avenging Ughtning, as it leaped 

From Azrael's upUfted hand, which else 

Had stretched thee at my feet, a blackened corse ! 

Soph. Thou arch impostor ! 

Moh. Canst thou not employ 
More fittingly the life my prayers preserved. 
Than thus, in coarse abuse of him who saved it 7 

Soph. This passes credence ; — who consigned 
my life 
Unto thy keeping ? 

Moh. Thou — by blasphemy ! 

Soph. Dost dream to mask thine impotence to 
take it 
With the soft veil of mercy 7 — to conceal 
Maddened ambition 'neath the downcast lids 
Of cold humility 7 

Moh. Ha ! ha ! Sophian 
Begins to fear the simple Hashemite. 



MOHAMMED. 35 

Soph. Fear thee ! vile composite of Jew and 

Christian ? * 
Moh. Now, by Abdallah's bones, thy lying lips 
Shall bleed for this. 

{He advances, with clenched hand, against Sopki- 
an^ ivho recoils a pace or two^ di^awijig his 
scimitar.) 
Soph. Come on ! — 
Moh. Forgive me, Allah ! 
Quench the last spark of pride that still survives, 
Till smiles alone give answer to the taunts 
Of this Ommeyite ! See ! I drop my ha7id I 
Replace thy sioord. Once, ere the angels' touch 
Linked me with Heaven, thy heart had answered 

this, 
By purpling half my scimitar ; but now, 
Instructed to forgive, I bless thee ! 
Soph. Coward ! 

Moh. {turning on him^ and as Sophian recoils.) 
Hero! 

{Exit Sophian, luith a gesture of vengeance.) 
A. Tal. My nephew, 't is a desperate game ; 
Thy foot is on the quicksands — I mistrust 
That fierce Ommeyite. 



36 MOHAMMED. 

Moh. Were he ten times fiercer 



And I bereft of Allah's crystal shield, 

Still would I brush him from me, as the lion 

Repels a dog. 

A. Tal. I know thy valor well : 
But what can one strong arm avail against 
The family of Ommeya, leagued with all 
The Bedouin tribes and citizens of Mecca ? 
Such odds may make the bravest tremble. 

Moh. Tremble ? 
Why, uncle, when a boy, before I knew 
'T was womanly to fear, I never trembled. 
'T is difficult to learn that female vice, 
When manhood hangs its honors on my chin, 
When angels guard me, and when God inspires. 
Tremble ? — By Allah, no ! Of every friend 
Deprive me, and of every earthly weapon 
Rob me, then chain me to my native sands, 
Helpless and lone, and there encompass me 
With Grecian phalanx and the serried ranks 
Of proud Parviz, methinks I could admire 
The bristling legions, as they raised their spears 
To pierce me. 

A. Tal Still, reflect. 



MOHAMMED. 37 

Moh. Reflect ? — I have— 
Reflected, and determined : though I saAV 
The poignard at my throat— though Ebhs lowered 
With all the hosts of hell— though Allah's self, 
To test my faith, the smi and moon should hurl 
Against me, — 't were in vain— I could not falter ! 

A. Tal The gods preserve thee, then ! 

Moh. May God — there is 
But 0726— preserve thee, noble Abu Taleb ! 
O, uncle ! foster-father ! friend ! my breast 
Is heavy with the wish to save thy soul. 
To Allah give the matchless heart he laid, 
Rich with each generous impulse, in thy bosom ; 
Obey the Prophet, and command thy son. 

A Tal Entreat me not ; I am as firm as thou. 
I know not whether Allah, as thou sayest. 
Or fancy, fraud, or reason, shapes thy course ; — 
But I have lived the life our fathers led, 
And I will sleep with them, whate'er their lot : 
I would not separate my fate from theirs, 
To bask forever in thy Paradise. 
But fortune frowns on thee, and I will share 
Thy sorrows here, though not thy joys hereafter.^ 
4 {Exit Al>n Taleh.) 



38 MOHAMMED. 

Moh. {looking after him.) My first, best friend ; 
thy native worth suffices 
To hft thee where rehgion carries few. 
Gaunt Time flies heavily, and well he may, 
His wings are laden with my fate and Mecca's. 
The moments which so lightly pass o'er others 
Prepare for me the banquet of success — 
Or an impostor's grave. Omniscient God, 
If I have tampered with thy awful name. 
And feigned communion with thy majesty, — 
If I have falsely worn the Prophet's mantle, 
And falsely sworn to be thy messenger, — 
'T is to reclaim the erring soul of man. 
To fix his longings on thy deathless beauty, 
To wipe the stigma from Arabia's brow. 
I am not an impostor ! — in my youth 
I sought and found — now love and worship thee. 
To-night decides my fate : refuse thine aid — 
But, Allah, curse me not ! and, if I bring 
A nation to adore thee, shall I not 
Deserve the splendid title I usurp. 
And be the Prophet I pretend to be ? ^ 

{Exit Mohammied through the gate behind.) 



MOHAMMED. 39 

Scene II. Mecca — early evening. — Apartment at Mohammed^ s. 
— Enter Cadijah, leaning on Fatima. 

Cadijah. Has Ali gone for Abubeker 1 

Fatima. Yes. 

Cad. Untie this scarf — it chokes me: — there. 

Fat. Sweet mother. 
Shah I command thy couch ? 

Cad. Thy infant bed 
Was on my bosom ; now, thy woman's breast 
Shall be my pillow : I am better thus — 
The liquid breeze of night revives me. Hark ! 
1 hear Mohammed greeting Abubeker. 

{Enter Mohammed^ Abubeker.^ All.) 
Mohammed. Leap, my glad heart ! Sweet mis- 
tress of my soul, 

Thy head, unpillowed and erect again, 

Shall droop no more till — {He kisses her.) 

Hell ! — thy lips are fire/ 

In Allah's name, what lured thee from thy bed ? 

Hot as Orion, in thy thrilling veins 

The fever flames. — Return ! 
Cad. For once, permit 



40 MOHAMMED. 

Thy servant to resist thy will. My brow 

Is calmer, circled by this changing air, 

Than pillowed to the couch it sears. 

{To AIL) My son, 

The moon is deluging the vale of Mina 

With molten silver : Fatima, thy cheeks 

Have lost their roses o'er the burning flush 

Of mine : go, light them at the stars, and breathe 

The freshened fields. 

Ali (aside to Fatima.) They would converse 
alone. {Exeunt All and Fatima.) 

Cad. {to Abiiheker.) Need I remind thee of 
those blissful days, 
When hand in hand our merry youth we passed. 
And roved and sported, laughed and wept together, 
To melt thy soul ? 

Abubeker. No ! no ! by Zemzem's waters,® 
I yet remember, and can feel the past. 
Our sires were brothers, and our mothers, friends : 
Afiection's spicy hand embalmed those ties, 
And age may mellow, but decay they cannot. 

Cad. Then, by those ties, I supplicate thee 
now ! 



MOHAMMED. 41 

The chilly touch of death will quickly cool 
My burning flesh. 

Moh. Hence ! Hence ! Why torture me 
With these delirious words 7 why linger here, 
Inviting death by mad exposure ? Nay, 
Love, to thy pillow ! I will watch and pray 
Beside thee, and refresh thy lips with mine. 

Cad. Not yet : a wife's redeeming love, at 
times, 
Makes disobedience virtue. Abubeker,^ 
Like the poor bird expiring on its nest. 
Life perishes when love is needed most ; 
My soul stands plumed for another world, 
And when, uncaged by death, I fly from earth, 
Mohammed, well-nigh friendless, must contend 
With stratagems and perils, swarming thick 
As locusts. Shall I make thee heir to that. 
As much surpassing all my current wealth. 
As yonder full-orbed moon the meanest star 7 

Abub. What is it 7 — speak more plainly. 

Cad. A wife's love ! 
Shall it, with me, lie withered in the tomb, 
Or, unextinguished, still survive in thee ? 
4* 



42 MOHAMMED. 

Thy birth, thy virtue, wealth and influence, 
Can cheer Mohammed for Cadijah lost, 
And manly valor and affection fill 
The vacant niche of feminine devotion. 
Dost thou accept it 7 

Ahuh. I shall never harm him. 

Cad. Cold words — cold words ; but wilt thou 
ever love him 7 

Abah. I will confer with Omar. 

Cad. Ask thy heart : 
An honest impulse is the best adviser. 
Ah ! I can urge no further —love itself 
Is mute, as death advances. Here — come closer — 

closer — 
And let me read thine eyes : — yes — yes — I trust 

thee! 
And when I moulder in the silent grave. 
Remember that the playmate of thy youth. 
Who loved thee as a darling brother, rose — 
Rose from her death-bed to secure thy favor, — 
Remember that her dying charge to thee 
Made thee her husband's guardian. 

{She sinks in Mohammed's arms.) 



MOHAMMED. 43 

Moh. Oh ! if aught 
May kindle envy in the eternal breast, 
'T is he for whom this miracle of love 
Is offered ! — Abubeker. pardon me. 

Abub. I waited but thy signal to retire. 

(^Exit Abubeker.^ 

Moh. Thou erring angel, rash but sainted wife, 
I know not whether to adore or blame 
The victim of excessive love. 

Cad. Mohammed, 
Torn from thee here, in Heaven I wait thy 

coming. 
Awhile wilt thou lament me ; but my eyes 
Have lost their bridal lustre, and my lips 
And paler cheeks no longer glow with youth's 
Carnation blushes. Some fair girl will change 
Thy tears to sunshine o'er Cadijah's grave, 
And maiden purity and loveliness 
Supplant the memory of her cold embrace. 

Moh. Never, by Heaven ! though angels brought 
the light 
Collected from the concentrated glances 
Flashed by the maids of Mecca — or the world — 
To dry my tears ! 



44 MOHAMMED. 

Cad. Death has no pang but this — 
To leave thee just as danger rides the gale, 
Just as the treacherous sea, where many a year 
We calmly floated, threatens to o'erwhelm 
Thy solitary bark ! 

Moh. {looking to Heaven.) The foaming sea 
On Pharaoh, not on Moses, will exhaust 
Its fury. There 's an miseen sword that guards me. 

Cad. Thy foes will scarce respect invisible 
Protection. 

Moh. Visible destruction, then, 
Awaits their blindness. Know that I have won 
Two nobles of Medina to the faith, — 
Saad and Osaid, illustrious names. 
To-night, upon the hill of Al Akaba, 
With Allah's help, I meant to wring from them 
A sanctuary in Medina. But, 
I will not quit thy side : a safe retreat 
Is but superfluous caution. 

Cad. Say not so ! 
Go — and I live ! Remember thine own phrase — 
" Man must cooperate with God, or perish ! " 
Go — I will run to welcome thy return. 



MOHAMMED. 45. 

Look — I can stand alone — my tongue receives 
Its wonted moisture ; and the burning wreath 
Drops from my brow, and leaves it cool and damp. 
Lose not a moment — go ! 

Mo/i. But moderate 
This haste : not before midnight do we meet, — 
'T is, by the stars, an hour or more too soon. 
At last — this way. What — not accept my arm 1 
Cad. {declining it.) Saad and Osaid, I lean 

on you ! '" 
{Exit Cadijah^ unsupported — Mohammed fol- 
loivs.y 

{Reenter Ali and Fatima.) 
All Did I not say thy mother would not need 
Thy care, sweet Fatima ? yet ere the moon 
Moistened our shadows in the velvet grass. 
Thy back was turned upon the nightingale. 
Who sung to greet thee, and complains deserted. 

Fat. I am too young a wife to put aside 
The daughter, — but if still the vale enchant, 
Come, since our parents are engaged, we may 
Resume our walk, revive the nightingale, 

{Mocking him.) 
And count the sympathetic stars. 



46 M O H A M MED. 

All. NO; no : 
Fair rose of Irem, from thy chamber window 
That sweet arithmetic is just as easy. 
There can we watch the angels driving back 
The rebel spirits with opposing meteors, 
Comfort the nightingale, imbibe the dews, 
And, at thy mother's call, attend her. 

Fai. {petfdaj/tly.) No ! 
Thou canst noL love nie, being opposite 
To all my wishes. When I said return, 
Thou didst oppose it ; now, I change my will 
To suit thy humor, and thy adverse whims 
Still thwart me. 

AIL Spend thy malice, love! 
The wine-press draws not from the grape of Tayef " 
Such nectar as thy honied lips extract 
From curses. 

Fat. Ah ! if fickle in thy tastes, 
Thy love, I fear, Avill prove inconstant too. 
Perchance the scattered relics of thy heart 
Alone are mine. Hast thou not often loved, 
And elsewhere rendered homage ? 

All. Yes. {Fatima starts.) 



MOHAMMED. 47 

I loved — the ground — thy tiny foot endeared it ; 
I loved the sky — thy liquid glance was on it ; 
I loved the air — thy glowing lips inhaled it — 
And oft I clasped it — thus, — for mimic fancy 
So multiplied thee, that thine airy image 
Filled up the welkin. 

Fat. Didst thou oft embrace 
My shadow ? 

AIL Ay, as often as I breathed. 

Fat. My shadoAV. then, was dearer than my 
substance. 

AIL Yes, for I only had the shadow then. 

(^Exeunt All and Fatima.) 



Scene III. Midnight. — Hill of Al Ahaba. a leagwi from 
Mecca. — Entei' Saadand Osaid^ muffled in cloaks and armed. 

Saad (looking stealthily around.^) There may 
be spies around us, Osaid : 
Of late, the Meccans watch us very closely. 

Osaid. Our visits to the Prophet have alarmed 
Their jealousy. 

Saad {starting.) Was that a step ? 

Osa. If so, 
I hope 't is his. 



48 MOHAMMED. 

Saad. He should be here : 'tis midnight. 
Osa. Haste boots him httle, Saad, since we hang 
As unresolved as when we saw him last. 

(^Mohammed ^ unperceived by them^ enters from 
behind^ in his green mantle^ 

Saad. His bearing must decide us : should he 
sue 
Like one whose fate depended on our smiles, 
/ will not jeopard life in his behalf; 
But if he ask, in calm indifference. 
Perchance — 

(^Mohammed steps between them, : they fall back 
in alarm.) 

Moh. The skies are smiling on our meeting : 
How regally the moon disdains that cloud ! 

Saad. Thus undisguised? 

Moh. A prophet scorns disguise. 

Saad. Thou mayest be dogged. 

Moh. By angels. 

Saad. Watched. 

Moh. By Allah. 

Osa. But wherefore thus unarmed? 

Moh. What need of armor 



MOHAMMED. 49 

To sheathe the limbs the eternal fiat makes 
Invulnerable? Nobles of Medina, 
If Allah, in his mystic providence. 
Compel his servant to abandon Mecca, 
Have ye a temple for him at Medina ? 

Saad. The question is more weighty than thy 
tone 
Imports. In harboring thee, we shall direct 
The spleen of Mecca 'gainst our weaker city. 

Moh. And, in rejecting me, as surely earn 
The curse of Allah for yourselves and issue. 

Osa. It is no pleasant thing to peril life, 
And lands, and goods, to shield a fugitive. 

Moh. Far easier than to barter Paradise 
For brief security and mundane toys. 

Saad. If Allah shield thee, why solicit us 
To interpose our puny mortal guards ? 

Moh. If Allah shield me, why thus hesitate 
To trust his buckler '? Nobles of Medina, 
I thought you Moslems, but discover still 
The taint of infidelity upon you ; 
I deemed ye men, but find ye shrink from shadows. 
O, can ye sacrifice a golden crown 



50 MOHAMMED. 

Because a briar guards it? — then farewell ! 
You cannot wear my laurels, if afraid 
To share my trials. 

(i?e turns his back^ and is going.) 

Osa. Hold, a moment ! 

Moh. {looking back ovc?^ his shoulder.) Well. 

Osa. May we not live with Allah, though 
afraid 
To link our fate with thine ? 

Moh. Sweet hope, indeed — 
Desert the Prophet, yet enjoy his God ! {Going.) 

Saad. If prudence guide us, will not Heaven 
approve ? 

Moh. {pausing.) If Heaven command, is dis- 
obedience prudent ? ( Goi?ig.) 

Osa. What is our fate, if we desert thee ? 

Moh. {t2umi7ig and advancing.) Hell! — 
When, struggling up in mortal agony. 
The soul emerges from your rattling throats, 
Death will be rapture to your destiny ! 
When Israfil to judgment wakes the dead. 
When, rent asunder, Heaven's disjointed arch. 
Red as a rose, like ointment melts away. 



MOHAMMED. 51 

And mountains scatter in the wind like wool, — 
Hurried by demons down to central hell, 
Your inner garments shall be kindled pitch. 
Your floor, your ceiling, everlasting fire ! 
Your food, the sharp and bitter thorns of Zacon ! 
Your drink, corruption flowing from the damned ! 
There, deaf and dumb and sightless, shall ye creep. 
Gnawing your hands in anguish and despair, 
Pavilioned in eternal smoke and flame ! 

Saad. Yet what our gain, in hazarding for thee 
Life and its present honors ? 

Moh, Paradise ! 
In Eden, in green silk and gemmed brocade, 
Resplendent, shall ye glide o'er pearls, that glance 
On streams surcharged with honey, milk and wine ; 
Embowered in verdure and perpetual shade. 
Sweet youths, invested with immortal bloom. 
Shall proffer water fresh from Salsabil, 
Lucent as camphor, and around you clash 
Their golden goblets ! But my words are weak ; 
I might exhaust the sea, were ocean ink, 
Yet fail to number half the joys of Eden.'^ 

Osa. Farewell to earth ; I fix my hope on 
Heaven ! 



52 MOHAMMED. 

Saad. Prophet of God, our mansions and our 
lives 
Are thine. 

Moh. {sternly.^ Repentance scarcely expiates 
Your hesitation. 

Saad. We will make amends 
By firmness and fidelity. 

Moh. {seizing their hands.) Then swear — 
By Moses and by father Abraham, 
By the Black Stone, by Zemzem's hallowed fount. 
By the wept ashes of your sires, by all 
You realize below and hope above — 
That ye will cling to me, though all desert, 
Through bliss and woe, defeat and victory ! 

Saad and Osaid. I swear ! 

Moh. Look not at me, but there — to Heaven ! 
And with uplifted hand invoke the curse 
Of Allah to confound your traitor souls 
In hell's sulphureous surge, if perjury 
Rescind the oath now registered on high. 

Saad and Osaid {with uplifted hands.) If per- 
jured, blast us with thy curse ! 

Moh. Remember ! 



MOHAMMED. 53 

But see — thick clouds are swallowing the moon, 
The wind is sighing with the distant rain. 
Our compact sealed, we need not idly brave 
The elements. When start ye for Medina 7 

Saad. The moment this approaching storm 

permits ; 
And rest assured, we '11 leave no art untried 
To win our citizens to welcome thee. 
Should sottish Mecca wax too dangerous." 

Moh. {blessing them.) Depart in peace, and 

prosper ! {Exeunt Saad and Osaid.) 
Now, at last. 

Off with this feigned and foreign apathy, 
My swelling heart, and vent thy ecstacy! 
Ha ! ha ! — And yet they deemed me unconcerned — 
When every word was brimmed with life or death, 
When my pent bosom labored like a sail 
Filled by a hurricane ! Ha ! ha ! — safe —safe ! 
Roar, breakers, roar! — I stand upon a rock 
Ye cannot bury, whose commanding front 
Shivers your crested helms. Frown, mortals, 

frown ! 

Threaten, plot, hatch, mature, attempt— and fail! 

5* 



54 aiOHAMMED. 

Mecca 's Sophian's, but Medina 's mine. 

(^Distant thunder.) 

I hear thee, Allah, — yes, thy finger steeped 

My tongue in eloquence — thy majesty 

Rebuked their fear. I am a Prophet now ! 

I hail, in this success, achieved by thee. 

Thy recognition ; and, once recognized. 

Imposture ceases. Say, thou viewless King, 

Does not the man, who, rising self-impelled. 

Plucks from thy throne the mantle he has earned, 

Excel the infant prophet, who receives 

The unmerited distinction in his cradle? — " 

The future holds thy answer. Now, sweet wife, 

1 fly to thee with choicest medicine. 

{Exit Mohammed.) 



Scene IV. Mecca — a little after midnight. — Corridor at 
Mohammed's. — Enter Mohammed, hurriedly — then halting 



Mohammed. Moans — moans ? — that stifled 
wail ! — I cannot stir. 
Death 7 — No ! — This is the trembling I have seen, 
But never felt before. A word — a look — 



MOHAMMED. 55 

She Still survives — she shall not die, by Heaven ! ^^ 
{As he rushes forward, he encounters AH.) 
'T is written on his face I 

{He buries his face in his hands.) 

AIL Cadijah 's dead ! 

Moh. I know it. {A long pause.) When — 
how — died she ? 

All. Scarce the door 
Had closed behind thee, when her bounding 

pulse 
Slackened its motion, and her hollow temples 
Turned cold and clammy. Feebler, feebler still. 
Each moment left her : mute and motionless 
She lay, unheeding us, while o'er her face 
A smile crept, mingling with the shades of death. 
Murmuring thy name, she died, as when in sleep 
An infant droops ; and o'er the placid clay 
We hung, expecting death, long after death 
Had sealed her lips forever. 

Moh. Not forever ! — 
But lead me to her, there alone to watch 
The vacant temple of her spotless soul. 



56 MOHAMMED. 

{Enter Fatima.') 
My daughter ! ( They embrace.) 
Dry these tears with smiles — rejoice ! 
Thy mother hves, beatified, enthroned 
With Miriam and Pharaoh's sainted wife. 
The scales are falling from my eyes — behold. 
The centre of encircling cherubim. 
She waves the last farewell, denied me here ! 
Exult ! the gates of Paradise revolve — 
They ope — she enters ! 

Fatima. As thou speak' st, thy tears 
Fall scalding on my cheeks. 

Moh. {covering his face with his hands.) Yes, 
Fatima, 
The Prophet glories — but the husband weeps ! 

{^He drops his head on her shoidder. Exeunt 
Mohammed and Fatima.) 

All. Well may he weep : if aught beneath the 
skies 
Deserve a Prophet's tears, it is the loss 
Of woman's love. 

{Enter Messenger.) 
Messenger. My lord, thy father's dying. 



MOHAMMED. 57 

Ali. Dying ! — Heaven, canst thou rob me of a 
father, 
When all the tears I have are needed here ! 

{Exit Ali.) 
{Curtain falls.) 



ACT III. 



Scene I. Mecca — sunset. — Square near the Temple. — Enter 
Sophian, clad in rich Governor''s robes. 

Sophiaii. Well, Abu Taleb 's dead, at last, and 

buried ; 

And ere he 's cold within his cerements, I ^ 

Am Governor of Mecca ! I have chased 

These flying honors with such headlong speed, 

The shock of meeting them has stunned me. 

Enter Calcd. 
Caled, 

This rank imposture grows apace, and, like 

Some nightborn monster, spreads its hundred hands, 

Infecting half of Mecca. 

Caled. Not a fourth. 

The Prophet's warm, impetuous eloquence. 

The fascination of his dauntless eye^ 

And lofty bearing, charm the credulous ; 

But still, we 're ten to one. 



MOHAMMED. 59 

Soph. We dwindle daily. 
The very men who lately hooted him, 
Bedeviled by his Koran and his capers, 
Now worship at his door. I shall not long 
Be Mecca's governor, if, unrestrained, 
Mohammed plays his sacrilegious pranks. 

Cat Why, Avhat has changed you so? — a 
month ago, 
You deemed him but a harmless visionary. 

Soph. The mimicked gloss of sanctity deceived 
me. 
The chair of state 's the Paradise he seeks ; 
Authority, the Allah he adores ; 
And all his aspirations point to that 
Sole, darling object of his hopes — the power 
So long exerted by his ancestors. 

Cell Were he ambitious, he had schemed for 
power 
Whilst Abu Taleb lived : be not too quick 
In nourishing suspicion. 

Soph, {ironically.^ No : we '11 wait 
'Till from their ancient seats our gods are hurled, 
And the astonished earth cries sacrilege. 



60 MOHAMMED. 

Cal I am compelled to smile, and yet 't is sad. 

In infancy, I knelt in pious awe, 

Deeming our idols heard my lisped prayer ; — 

In youth, when first I stained my scimitar, 

My cry was Hobal ! and the hostile ranks 

Seemed harvest-fields ; but now — I have no god ! 

( Despondingly. ) 
Soph. Why, Caled? — 

Cal. Yes, the vulgar herd may cling 
To deities, whose majesty must brook 
A fly's pollution ; but my prouder soul "^ 
Sighs for an object worthy of its faith. 
Whose worship elevates the worshipper. 

Soph. Can you not find one ? 

Cal. Yes — in Allah. 

Soph. What ! — * 

Mohammed's Allah? 

Cal. Yes, Mohammed's Allah, 
And mine, and yours. My reason asked an Allah 
Ijong ere Mohammed named him. — Would I knew 
A way to serve him ! I am incomplete, 
Dull, soulless, miserable, impotent. 
While thus dissevered from a Deity. 



MOHAMMED. 61 

My love is adoration — I require 
An altar, not a mistress.^ 

{Enter AmroUj laughing heartily over a parchment 

contai7iing the Mesra, or the Prophets nocturnal 

journey through the seven heavens. ) 

Amrou. I shall drop ! 
Oh, well done, Alborak ! — 1 'm suffocated — 
Cudgeled with wonders ! 

Cal. Why, what now, Amrou ? 

Am. These miracles would break a camel 's back. 
Where do you think Mohammed Avent last night ? 

Soph. To hell, I hope. 

Am. That 's near the mark ; but hear : 

In this authentic document, which I 

Tore from the portal, where the Prophet placed it, 

He says he galloped to Jerusalem, 

Upon a quadruped, half horse, half mule. 

Named Alborak — {reads) — " And thence, on steps 

of Hght, 

Mounted to Heaven, and saw the pendent stars 

Dangling from chains of gold ; a snow-white cock. 

His wings with pearls and carbuncles inlaid, 

Crowed loud hosannas." 
6 



b» MOHAMMED. 

(He advances.') Now ! — {reads) — ' ' The swiftest 

horse 
Could scarce accomplish, in five hundred years, 
The distance 'twixt his crest and spurs!" — Oh! 

oh! — 
What a sweet crow the fellow must have had ! 
There 's nothing said about his hen/ 

Soph. Enough ! 
It sickens me. 

Am. Sicken, but hear. 'T is choice.^ {Reads.) 
" Adorned with seventy pair of orient wings, 
An angel, of such monstrous magnitude. 
That hungry eagles, launching from one eye, 
Would fail in seventy thousand days to reach 
The other — " 

{Sophian snatches the parchment, and spitting 
on it, throws it back.) 

Soph. There ! — Ye guardian gods of Mecca. 
These lips have sworn to punish blasphemy ; 
These hands shall do it ! — Impious malecontent ! 
He dies ! 

Cal Mohammed 7 

Soph. Ere the sun is up. 



MOHAMMED. 63 

Cal. Banish him. 

Soph. Banish ! — Loose the artful fiend, 
To rear in other sands a reptile brood 
Of armed fanatics, minions of his will, 
And tent his Moslems in the vale of Mina, 
Thick as autumnal dates ? 

Cal. Well, let them come : 
We '11 meet him, man to man, and horse to horse,® 
And try his Islam by the scimitar. 

Soph. I '11 try his inspiration by the dagger ! 
Braving my menaces, my guards, myself. 
He frights the temple with his blasphemies. 
If death alone can seal his impious tongue. 
The gods demand his life. 

Cal. They ask your patience. 

Soph. And they have had it — had it all. He 
dies ! 
{Aside.) [Yes, for his life makes all my moments 

nettles ; 
Spite of myself, I tremble whilst he hves.] 

{Exit Sophian.) 

Cal. He 's white with rage and fear. It must 
not be ; 
Mohammed shall not perish like a dog. 



€e4 MOHAMMED. 

Am. Prophet or hypocrite, to murder 's worse 
Than worst imposture. 

Cal How shall we prevent it 7 

A?n. I '11 follow him, applaud his resolution, 
And play the spy ; and, having learned liis plot, 
We '11 counterplot. {Exit Amroii.) 

Cal. I feel there is an Allah ; 
1 would I knew Mohammed were his Prophet ! 
There 's something more than greatness in the man, 
Or is it fancy? — Help me, Great Unkno^vn ! 
1 'd rather be a beggar, with a God 
To worship, than an emperor without one. 

{Exit Caled.) 

{Enter Omar^ in meditati/)n.) 
Omar. . The master mind directs fanaticism. 
But bold imposture can alone emit 
The spark it springs from. Thus, Mohammed, 
Thy jugglery evokes a mighty spirit. 
Which I had called in vain, — but, once upraised. 
It owns my guidance and obeys my will. 
Mohammed, thou hast played the Prophet well ; 
Now, Omar, be it thine to play the convert. 
'T is time for action, — I have thought enough. 



MOHAMMED. 65 

{Enter Abubeker.^ 
(Tb Abubeker.^ Sophian or Mohammed 7 — Neu- 
tral hitherto, 
We now must choose our party, or incur 
The enmity of both. 

Abiibeker- I 'm most unhappy : 
False to the dead, if I embrace Sophian j 
False to the living, if I join Mohammed. 

Om. False to the living — how? 

Abiib. By sacrificing 
Myself and family. 

Om. Listen, Abubeker. 
(^Aside.) [If I appear the proselyte, he follows 
In downright earnest.] I have heard from those 
Whose reverend hairs stood vouchers for their 

truth. 
That at Mohammed's birth a flood of light 
Enveloped Syria ; that Sawa's lake, 
Congealing, turned to sparry adamant ; 
That in the royal Persian's rocking towers 
The sacred fire went out — ^ 

Abub. Indeed ! 

Om. (aside.) [It works.] 
6* 



00- MOHAMMED. 

Ay, more: fresh from the womb, he knelt and 

prayed, 
Clasping his little hands devoutly. 

Abifb. Strange ! 

Om. {aside.) [Rather!] Shall I confess it, 
Abubeker? — 
Behold a Moslem ! Start not — ask your heart, 
Is it not weary of idolatry ? 
You know, that as we worship in the temple, 
We fear to look each other in the face. 
Lest smiles betray our incredulity. 
We serve our idols but to rule the people. 

Abub. But can Mohammed be indeed inspired 7 

Om, What else than inspiration can produce 
The Koran's dulcet verse? — no mortal pen 
Such superhuman sweetness ever dropped.^ 

Abub. Grant him inspired, but still we peril 
much 
In joining him. 

Om. We peril nothing. Mark — 
Mecca 's behind the world, — in darkness cloaked, 
Whilst all around is light. In Syria, 
The Christian boasts his Nazarene, — while south, 



MOHAMMED. $9^ 

The Hebrew points to Moses, and the East 
Unfolds its revelations. It is time 
Arabia had her Prophet too. 

Abub: But is she ready ? 

Om. Ready and ripe : her sultry bosom teems 
With Jew and Christian, mingled with her own 
Swart progeny ; fired by our sun, they seek 
A worship more congenial to their blood : 
Thus with Medina, thus with all our towns, 
Save this illiterate and benighted Mecca. 

Abub. But we are cast in Mecca. 

07n. In the world ! 
What chains us here? — thy lands? — O, Abube- 

ker, 
Cling to Mohammed, and thy broad domain, 
Though lost awhile, soon doubled will return ; 
Embrace Sophian, and 't is gone forever. 
The Prophet must succeed : though now alone, 
The East will soon be swarming at his feet. 
Arabia blindfold climbs the pyramid, 
Whose pinnacle already he has won ; 
His hand unseals her eyes, and lo ! — she leaps 
Impetuous to fulfil her destiny.^ 



68 MOHAMMED. 

Abub. Thy choice confirms the impulse of my 
heart, — 
Cadijah's charge is ringing in my ear,— 
The Prophet ! '' 

Om. {seizing his hand.) Yes, the Prophet! 
Live, Mohammed! — 
We offer thee our faith and scimitars ! 

( They are goings when Omar stops Abubeker.) 
But hold : — you have a daughter. 

Abub. Yes, Ayesha. 

Om. Beauteous and young. 

Abub. A virgin, scarce fifteen. 

Om. 'T is said her loveliness defies belief. 

Abub. Her father deems her fair enough. 

Om. Now, look : 
Cadijah 's dead — the Prophet 's amorous ; 
Tell him thy daughter prays to be his wife. 
Now mark the consequence : he will accept her — 
Thou art Mohammed's father : in the skies, 
Thy home the Empyrean — on the earth, 
Thy lands and fortune his especial care ! 

{Exeunt Omar and Abubeker.) 



MOHAMMED. 69 

Scene II. Mecca — night. — Apartment at MohammecTs. — 
Thurifer smoking on a table near a sofa. — Enter Mohammad. 

Mohammed. My wife, my uncle dead, and 

Mecca lost! 

Are these thy mercies Allah 7 — Be it so : 

I '11 not despond. When God deserts, let man 

Be truer to himself. My sword 's my uncle ; 

Ten concubines shall cheer me for one wife, 

Medina's homage balance Mecca's scorn. '^ 

{Enter Zeid.) 
Has Ali come ? 

Zeid. Not yet. 

Moh. His steed 's a snail. 

{He throws himself on the so/a.) 
Fresh incense, Zeid. {Zeid adds incense.) 
Ah, woman's smile transmutes 
Our sighs to transport, and our tears to pearl. 
The frankincense upon her mellow lip, 
Her Maker's likeness glowhig in her face, 
Are virtue's inspiration and reward — 
And shall be mine ! Fresh incense. 

{Enter Omar and Abi(bekej\) 
{Mohammed starts up^ feeling for a secret weapon.) 
Friends, or foes ? 



70 MOHAMMED. 

Abubeker. Thy friends. 

Omar. And true believers. 

( They both bow deeply.^ 

Moh. Bless you — bless you ! 

(^He bursts into a hoarse^ hysterical laiigh^ and 
falls back on the sofa.) 

Om. What's this? 

Moh. Excessive joy ! I'm human, Omar ; 
The soul 's inspired — the heart remains the same. 

{He laughs again.) 
You found me here contending with despair,'^ 
Eying the future with a reckless, wild 
Indifference : my wife warm in her grave ; 
My micle, Abu Taleb, dead ; his chair 
Filled by a foe implacable : — thus cursed, 
I felt myself abandoned e'en by Heaven. 

{He shades his face ivith his hand, — then 
springs i/p, mastering dejection.) 
But whilst my seared and doubting spirit sunk, 
The hand of Allah guided to my side 
The sage whose godlike reason fitly types 
The superhuman wisdom whence it sprung. 
And one, whose charity alone outworths 



MOHAMMED. 71 

A noble's fortune. In the flush of joy, 
Let each in silence offer up a prayer ; 
The angel-guarded fruiting of the soul 
Requires no outward motion to direct 
The eye of Allah to its inner bloom. 

{They bovj^in silence. Enter Ali^ 
What says Medina? — these are Moslems — speak! 

All. Thy throne is built; and with a lover's 
ardor 
She waits thy coming. In the cave of Hara, 
Fearmg to venture nearer, Os^id 
Expects thee now, with coursers swift as light. 

Moll. 'T is hard to leave thee, Mecca, though 
delay 
Be fraught with death. Without a word, a sigh. 
And unresisting as the dove, I saw 
A demagogue, who lived by my permission, 
Strip me of all my proud ancestral honors. 
Then power was nothing — Islam all: I 've learned 
That power is all — submission but a farce. 

Om. A farce, indeed. 

Moh. Too long neglected Power, 
Virgin severe, precursor of my faith, 



72 MOHAMMED. 

The first step in my mission is to win thee. 
And as a soldier will I seek thy hand. 
Islam, for thee I 've lost my native city ; 
Islam, for thee I '11 win it back agaui ! 
To-night, a fugitive ; to-morrow — 

{Enter Caled.) 
Caled! — 

Heaven, hast thou sent, to guard thy messenger. 

The diamond of Arabia ? 

Caled. Are these friends? 

Moh. Friends and believers. 

Cal. Omar, thou a Moslem ? 

Om. I hold that title dearer than my life. 

Cal. (to Mohammed^ Leave town to-night, or 
never see the morn ; 
'Ilie dagger 's at thy heart. 

Moh. But cannot pierce it. 

Cal. Sophian and the Bedouin chiefs are sworn 
To take thy life before the sun is up. 

Moh. Blind worms ! they crawl towards a 
precipice. 
( To Caled.) Desert these fell assassins and their 
idols. 

Cal. They are my kinsmen. 



MOHAMMED. 73 

Moh. Why reveal their plot 7 

Cal. Because my nature loathes assassination : 
Because my bosom, with its naked flesh, 
Will fence thy innocence from skulking murder. 

Moh. Alas ! that such a splendid soul as thine 
Is lost to Allah ! 

Cal. Say not lost to Allah ! 
Mohammed, could I know thou wert his Prophet. 
In peace, my Paradise were at thy feet ; 
In war, my Heaven encircled by thy foes. 
Let me but feel I fight in Allah's name. 
And, by the stars, the Caled of the past 
Shall seem a lamb. 

Moh. What proof wilt thou accept 1 
Is not the Koran, not the plighted faith 
Of Omar, witness to my sacred mission ? 

Cal No : ere I own thee, on the battle-field, 
In single combat, must thou vanquish him, 
Whose prowess mortal never yet withstood ; — 
Allah's ambassador must prove himself 
Superior to my sword. 

Moh. Too stern the proof. 
Let this convince thee : — in the cave of Hara 
7 



74 MOHAMMED. 

A friend awaits me, and a courser neighs, 
And morning hails me master of Medina. 
An angel warned me of Sophian's plot 
Before he hatched it. 

Cat Did he also tell thee 
Thy foes were guarding all the avenues 
From Mecca and thy house? 

Moh. He did — he did! 
And told m.e how to foil the miscreants ! 
(Tb All.) My scimitar, my Bedouin cap and 

cloak. (^Exit All.) 
Clouds may obscure, but not impede the sun : 
Let mortals frown — they cannot crush Mohammed! 

{^Enter All, ivith scimitar., 6f*c. MoJiatnmed takes 

the scimitar, and draws it.) 
The sword is drawn, and shall not touch its sheath 
Till Mecca totters and Sophian falls ! 

(^He flings aivay the scabbard^ and takes Caled 
by the hand.) 
Caled, the war 's begun; and ere a week, 
I pledge myself to meet, in single combat, 
The man whom mortal never yet withstood, 
And bring him to his knee. 



MOHAMMED. 75 

Cal Then, ere I rise. 
I swear to hail thee Prophet. When thy sword 
Subdues my manhood, it has won my faith. 

Moh. {to All.) My son, I make thee Allah's 
instrument 
To rend the meshes of these dull assassins. 

(^He takes off his turban and green mantle^ jnits 
them on All, and assumes the Bedoidn cap 
and, cloak.) 
Go out upon the terrace, — in the moonlight 
'T is easy to mistake thee for Mohammed : 
And let my mantle cheat them, till its master ^^ 
Escapes the city. Caled, one boon more. — 
Protect my son, if they should turn upon him. 
AIL I have a weapon : this (^folding the man- 
tle around him) is shield enough ! 

{Exit All) 
Cal. Thy son is safe; but thou — delay no 

longer. 
Moh. {taking his hand.) Farewell. Remem- 
ber — on the battle-field ! 
Cal. The battle-field ! 
Moh. {to Omar and Abubeker.) Farewell. 



76 MOHAMMED. 

• Om. (d?'moing his scimUar.) We '11 follow thee ! 

Moh. Remain, to guard your fortunes, and con- 
sole 
My Moslems : counterfeit neutrality. 
But cherish secretly the seeds of Islam. 
Endangered by my absence. Allah's grace 
Shall reunite us in Medina. 
(jHTe gives them his blessing ; they boiv.) Peace ! 

{Exit Mohammed behind, the others at the side.) 



Scene III. Mecca — midnight. — Dark vestibule at Moham- 
med's. — Chamber at the side. — Enter Ali, disguised as the 
Prophet. 

Ali {looki7ig otit through a windoiv.) I have 

misled them : as they climb the terrace, 

Mohammed gains the street. {He returns.) The 

Prophet 's safe. 

They force the door. {He goes to the side.) 

I hear them on the steps : — 

Ay, pause and mutter ! — ye shall quickly learn 

The difference 'twixt a Prophet and his mantle. 

{Exit AH into the chamber.) 



MOHAMMED. 77 

{Enter Sophian and the Bedouin chiefs^ miijjied^i 
Sojjhian {looking through the chamber door.) 
'T is he — • I know him by his dark green mantle. 
He moves not — fast asleep. (iJe advances.) 
Ye mystic Powers, 

Who judge between the slayer and the slain, 
May the same thrust that consecrates our swords 
With blood acceptable to Heaven and earth, 
Consign Mohammed to the hell he fables ! 

{Sophian and the Bedouin chiefs are entering 

the chamber, ivhen AH appears, encountering 

Sophian tvith drawn scimitar^ beats hi?n back, 

and the rest recoil) 

AH {throioing off the mantle.) Say, who are ye 

that force the Prophet's chamber, 

With muffled heads and naked blades ? — Speak 

out. 
Foul, murder-boding shapes of night ! Unmask ! 
^oph. {discovering himself.) Behold ! 
All. The Governor of Mecca shrunk to what ? — 
Which shall I say — a thief, or an assassin? 
Soph. The latter, if it please thee ; for, by Hobal, 
7* 



78^ MOHAMMED. 

We sought Mohammed's blood — and mean to 
have it ! 

All. What, vampires ! do ye think to crush the 
Prophet, 
When thus ye blench before his shadow 7 

fSoph. Blench ! — 
Boy, let me pass, or, by Ommeya's urn, 
I '11 split that braggart tongue of thine ! 

All Advance — 
And, by great Hashem's ashes, though thy tribe 
May soon avenge, they cannot save thee ! 

Soph. Hence ! 
I '11 search the house — oppose me at thy peril ! 
Begone ! 

{He advances. AH stands firm^ with lifted 

scimitar.) 

{^Enter Amrou.) 
Amrou {intervening.') Forbear, Sophian ! Look, 
'tis clear as water: 
The Prophet shed his skin to save his life ; 
Stuffed it with Ali to divert your scent ; 
And whilst you watched the counterfeit Moham- 
med, 



MOHAMMED. 79 

The genuine escaped. Instead of dallying herOj 
Belching harsh thunder at a generous youth, 
Pursue your quarry, else you 're baffled, cheated, — 
Quick, and retrieve ! 

Soph. When I have taught this fool 
That e'en the Prophet's skin has venom in it. 
(To the Bedouins.^ Ye who are sworn with me, 
redeem your oaths ! 

{As Sophian and the chiefs are encompassing 
Ali, enter Caled.') 
Caled. Beware the lion, wolves ! — Fall back, I 

say! {They recoil.) 
{He marks a line hetxoeen them and Ali with his 
scimitar.) 
Who crosses that, encounters this ! Sophian, 
I blush to see thee marshalling a troop 
Against a lad whom thy unaided steel 
Should lightly deal with. 

Soph. Caled, tempt me not ! 
Art thou a traitor to thy race and faith 1 

Cal. Sophian, tempt me not, since blood, not 
love 's 
The link between us : it may break in blood ! " 



80 MOHAMMED. 

Soph. Never ! But let me pass. I '11 search 
the house 
From top to bottom ; then, my hot pursuit 
Shall ferret all Arabia and the world. 

Cal. Pass on. {Aside to Alt, whom he controls.) 

[His search will give Mohammed time.] 
{^Exe2int JSophian and Bedouins through the 
chamber — Ali springs to the other side.) 
Where ? (^Arresting him.) 

Ali {breaking aivay.) For my wife, before they 

reach her chamber. i^Exit Ali.) 
Am. The Prophet's gone. 
Cal. But will return : and then 
We'll have broad-daylight wars, not midnight 

brawls, — 
The bounding steed, not murder's catlike pace. 

{Exeunt Caled and Am^rou.) 

{Reenter Ali, with Fatima.) 
Fatima. I fear to scan thee, lest some hidden 
wound 
Startle me. 

Ali. Look — I 'm bloodless as the lily. 



MOHAMMED. 81 

Fat. Your clashing voices palsied my poor 
heart. 
Wert thou in danger ? 

AIL Yes, and hut for Caled, 
Had perished. 

Fat, Perished! Ali, on my knees, 
I thank thee for this perilous devotion. 

Ali {prevejiting her from kneeling.) What sac- 
rifice can man refuse to make 
At such an altar ! 

{High voices J and clash of arms^ heard from 

without.) 
Fat. They have found a clew- 
To track my father out. 

Ali. Well, let them follow ; 
'T is now too late to overtake. Ere morn, 
Our steeds shall spurn the hostile sands of Mecca, 
And bear us to Medina and the Prophet. 

{Exeunt Ali and Fatima.) 



82 MOHAMMED. 

Scene IV. Cave of Hara — after midnight. — Enter Mo- 
hammed, disguised as a Bedouin, with naked sword — exhausted 
by flight, — his garments torn and soiled. 

Mohammed. Farewell the drooping head, the 

nerveless hand. 

The dovelike patience that solicits scorn. 

No longer shall I smile when others frown, 

Bless when they curse, and soothe when they deride. 

Forced from my foe-girt home, while still the graves 

Of wife and uncle clamored for my tears, 

Wet with the bursting of a daughter's heart, — 

Life barely saved by hazarding a son, — 

Farewell, Divine forgiveness ! — I have fed 

Too long on vengeful camel's flesh, to heed ^^ 

The silent beckon of thy mild blue eye. 

(^He sees the crescent moon.) 

Hail, crescent moon ! 't is Allah's finger brands 

Thy flaming curve upon the sapphire sky, 

A beacon and a symbol to his Prophet ! 

Hail, scimitar of vengeance ! not in vain 

The token flames. Henceforth, Mohammed, drop 

The servile imitator, and amaze 

Mankind, — a witness to the Power of God, — 

The Prophet of the Sword ! '^ 



MOHAMMED. 83 

{Enter Osaid.) 
Osaid. Why thus disguised? 
Thou saidst a prophet scorned disguise. 

Moh. 'T is true; 
But not when dignified by God's command. 
Where are the horses ? 

Osa. But a few steps hence, 
Beside a slender stream. 

Moh. Silence ! stand back 
Behind this jutting rock. 

( They conceal themselves behind a ledge of rocks, 
lohilst Sophian and the Bedouin chiefs pass 
along an elevated ridge in the back- ground.^ 
What think you, friend. 
Those men are seeking ? 
Osa. What? 
Moh. Mohammed's life ! 
Osa. We are but two ! {In alarm.) 
Moh. {smiling.') There is a third. 
Osa. {looking rotind.) Who ? — 
Moh. {pointing to Heaven.) Allah ! 

{Exeunt Mohammed and Osaid.) 
{Curtain fdls.) 



ACT IV 



Scene I. Medina — early morning. — Great audience hall 
in a palace gorgeously decorated. — Enter Omar. 

Omar {looking round.) Magnificent ! Ah — 

Gabriel has let fall 

Some feathers plucked in Paradise, to imp 

The palace at Medina. Fame announced 

A triumph here ; but still, I hardly thought 

To find him lapped in gold so gorgeously. 

{Enter Moham?necl, regally dressed.) 
Mohammed. My peerless Omar, welcome to 
Medina ! 
Art just arrived 1 

Om. I scarcely have had time 
To make my orisons and my ablutions. 
I find the exile living like a king. 

Moh. Housed like a king; — but 'neath this 
silk and gold 
Lurks stern austerity. 



MOHAMMED. 85 

Om. (aside.) [And lechery.] 

Moh. What news from Mecca ? 

Om. {carelessly.) Nothing of importance. 
Sophian follows us with all his force, 
Swearing to capture thee, or crush Medina. 

Moh. How many men has he ? 

Om. About three thousand. 

Moh. (aside.) [Double my utmost. Nothing 
of importance '] — 
By Heaven, his confidence outbrags my own.] 

Om. (loho has been loatching Mohammed.) 
(^Aside.) [Though rich in gold. I fear he 's poor in 
steel.] 

Moh. Omar, in spite of scorn and banishment, 
I love the Meccans ; and I cannot see 
Three thousand gallant countrymen advance 
To siQ'e destruction, without pitying 
Their certain fate. 

Om. (droppin^c his head.) Nor I. 

Moh. {eying him stei^nly.) So confident ? 
An army under Caled and Amrou 
Is not a water-lily, to be crushed 
Between a baby's fingers. 
8 



86 MOHAMMED. 

Om. But the bolt 
Of Allah shivers the defiant oak. 
As easily as the daisy at its feet. 

Moh. But Allah's servant? 

Om. Wields his master's thunder ! 

Moh. Yes, and will conquer, — though Medina 
shrinks 
At Mecca's name, — though these good citizens. 
All fire a week ago, are ashes now, 
And eye me coldly, with a moody shrug, 
That plainly says — we ' ve done too much already. 
Sophian's snorting trumpets will disperse 
Their love! [Aha! he quails.] (Aside.) 

Om. (recovering.) No — no ! the blast 
Will startle echoes in the frowning sky. 
To send his legions howling back to Mecca. 

Moh. (aside.) [He has a plan — he plays a 
part. I '11 watch thee !] 
Forgive me this sharp trial of thy faith. 
And share my honors, Omar, hi Medina, 
I reign supreme, sole head of church and state, 
Whilst Islam, winged by persecution, moves * 
Majestically on. These kind Ansars 



MOHAMMED. 87 

Half worship me, — their daughters are my slaves, 
Who piously preserve each falling hair, 
Ay, e'en my spittle.^ 

Om. What excessive — faith ! 

Moh. Or love ; for woman's fine but weaker 
soul 
Must love the Prophet, to adore his master. 

Orn. {aside.) [God help our sisters !] 

Moh. At Mohammed's word, 
A thousand scimitars will bend their points 
Against Sophian ; and, impelled by Allah, 
They must prevail. 

Om. Against the world. 

Moh. The world ! — 
{Aside.) [What, Omar, — can thy hungry wisdom 

scent 
My flitting dreams ?] I was so wrapt in thee, 
That love, in friendship lost, forgot to ask 
Of Abubeker and my promised bride. 
The fair Ayesha : are they in the city 7 

Om. Ayesha tarries to array herself 
In seemly garments. 

Moh. Richest ornament 



§8 MOHAMMED. 

Can ill repay me for the time it steals 
From our acquaintance. 

{Enter Abiibeker and Ayesha^ veiled.^ 
Welcome to Medina, 
Most venerable Abubeker ! 

Abuheker. Hail, 
Prophet of Allah ! 

Moh. Lady, pray remove 
This envious curtain, and permit mine eye 
To linger, where my thoughts so long have nestled. 
{Ayesha throics her veil aside, and looks Moham- 
med full in the face. He stands silently gaz- 
ing at her.) 
Abiib. She is a virgin in her fifteenth year : 
A blameless daughter, may she ever prove 
A faithful wife. Here ends my charge — she 's 
thine. 

(^He places her hand in Mohammed^ s.) 
Ayesha {aside.) [His ardent gaze consumes 

me.] {Bending her head.) 
Om. {aside.) [Ha ! he 's hers. 
And she her father's, and her father mine ! 
Plough on, Mohammed — Omar reaps the field !] 



MOHAMMED. 89 

Moh. {continuing to gaze at her.) Her blush- 
ing cheek, made fragrant by her breath, 
Excels the Persian rose, — her ruby lips 
Mother unblemished pearls, — upon her brow 
Aspiring scorn divided empire holds ^ 
With soft attraction, and with every motion 
New graces flutter round her buoyant limbs. 

{Enter Saad and Osaid, in consternation.) 
Saad. Sophian leads an army 'gainst the city, 
With Caled and Amrou ! 

Moh. {still gazing.) Each glittering eye 
Nurses a smiling soul. 

Saad. On Beder's field, 
Three stations hence, all Mecca now encamps. 
Moh. {still gazing.) Her form repairs the ruin 

of my heart.'' 
Saad. Within an hour, we '11 have them at our 

gates. 
Moh. {turning suddenly towards him.) Within 
an hour, we '11 have them at our feet ! — 
Why, nobles of Medina, would you have me 
Absorbed in enemies, when Heaven presents 
8* 



?90 MOHAMMED. 

A friend as fair as this? — Prepare for action^ — 
I'll do the rest ! — My wife — 

(^Exeunt Mohammed and Ayesha.) 

Om.. (aside.) [She '11 govern him. 
There 's empire in her eye, and beauty guards it.] 
How thy sweet girl enchanted him ! 

Abiib. She seemed 
To please him. 

Om. She enslaved him. Abubeker, 
The Prophet's sun is mounting ; — ere a week, 
He reigns in Mecca. 

Abtib. You are over sanguine. 
He first must conquer thrice his force. 

Om. He '11 do it. 

Abub. Sophian 's crafty. 

Om. But Mohammed 's great. 

Abub. Caled's a lion. 

Om. Allah is a God ! 
And then — Caled 's half Moslem now : Amrou 
Has too much sense to venerate an idol, 
And too much tender self-regard to prop 
A falling house. O'er vanquished Mecca soon 
Our banner floats. 



MOHAMMED 



ISKI 



Abub. {incredulously.) And then — 
Om. Why, torrent-hke,^ 
Islam o'erspreads the desert ; and before 
The Prophet dies, he 's master of Arabia ! 
Abub. No — no ! 

Om. Yes — yes ! And when he dies — for men, 
Of his gigantic mould, die early — we, 
Appointed by thy daughter, may divide 
His kingdom. 

Abub. {coldly.) I have wealth enough with- 
out it. 
{Enter Amroii, with a green palm branch, ushered 
by a slave boioing deeply.) 
Amrou. There— there: — don't break your 
back — I 'm not a Prophet. 
I 'd rather see your head up than your — Ah ! 

{Seeing Omar and Abubeker.) 
Most venerable Moslems, I salute ye. 

{Bowing stiffly.) 
Om. {mimicking him.) Courteous idolater, we 

thus return it. 
Am. {ceremoniously.) Behold in me an embassy 
from Mecca. 
Where is Mohammed? 



955 MOHAMMED. 

Oni. Kneeling to the angel. 

Am. When can I see him 1 

Om. Pray be sociable ; 
He will be here anon — relax. 

Am. Stand off 
'Till I have decently disrobed myself. 

(fle lays the palni respectfully on the floor ^ then 
rushes familiarly to Omar.) 
Well met once more ! Why, by my mother's 

tongue. 
This palace, Abubeker, looks as though 
Omar's philosophy had studied ways 
And means to lavish all thy wealth upon it. 
What pretty plunder ! — 

{E?iter Saad, with the lohite banner unfurled at Me- 
dina, Ali, Osaid, and the inagnates of Medina. 
They stand opposite the vacant throne.) 
Here 's a gallant pageant ! 

Om. The Prophet's council ! — Magnates of 

Medina. 
Am. (^picking up the palm.) Then, I resume 
the lost ambassador. 



MOHAMMED. 93 

{Enter Moharmned^ preceded by Zeid and body- 
guard, who make an avenue for him at the 
entrance behind. He passes through them^ and 
takes his scat on the throne^ lohilst Saad plants 
the bamier so as to hang over his head. Amrou 
advances with great dignity and respect.^ 

Who will direct me, for I would address 

The sovereign power of this good city ? 

Magnates (pointing to Mohammed.) There ! — 
Am. The Governor of Mecca, through me, 
warns 

Medina to deliver up a certain 

Fugitive from her violated justice ; 

By name, Mohammed ; and by trade — a Prophet. ^ 
Mohammed. Proceed. And if Medina should 
retain 

This Prophet fugitive ? — 
Am. Then fire and sword 

Shall wrest him from her desolated bosom. 

Moh. {to Amrou.) Fall back, and wait thy 
answer. Citizens, {He rises.) 

There was a time when persecution met 

Resigned endurance in Mohammed's soul, 



94 MOHAMMED. 

That thus the baffled infidel might learn 
The constancy of Truth : — but, having spumed 
Her lowliness, he now shall feel her power, 
And fear the Allah, whom he will not love ! ^ 

(^He descends.) 
How say ye, children of Medina, — War ? — 
War, with your Prophet, or a Peace without him 1 
Omnes. War ! ( Their hands are heard ring- 
ing against their sivord-hilts.) 
Moh. Not the desperate game, where angry 
nations 
Baptize their honor in a sea of blood, — 
But war that man requires and Heaven demands. 
War, on whose burnished wings insulted Peace 
Escapes the ravishment of Tyranny, 
And flies to eager Liberty's embrace, 
Her champion and her spouse ! 

Om. {and the rest^ draioing their scimitars.) 

Lead on, O Prophet ! 
Moh. I prayed for victory ; — Gabriel, smiling, 
said, — 
'' Death is decreed by fate, not circumstance. 
Steel 's not the arbiter of human life, 
But Allah, when assigning, limits it. 



MOHABIMED. 95 

The coward, skulking in his damask bed, 
Gains not a day on earth, but years in hell. 
The Moslem perils nought, hemmed in by foes ; 
And, dying, sleeps in Eden." 

Om. May our bed 
This night be there ! ^ 

Saad. Great Allah ! grant it ! 

{Mohammed catches the white banner frmn Saad, 

and advances with it.) 
Moh. Come ! 
Ye who are for me, form around me ! 
( They all form a semicircle, of v)hich Mohammed 
is the centre, — slightly howiiig beneath the ban- 
ner, with drawn scimitars.) 
Thus — 

To all who die beneath this sacred standard 
I promise Eden's loftiest couches, lined 
With greenest silk, impregned with gold and gems. 
Around them flowering branches shall mature 
Embracmg fruits, and twining roses shade 
Their perfumed limbs. Immortal houris — maids 
Fairer than wanton fancy ever shaped, 
Whose large black eyes are virgin to their lords. 
Whose cheeks dissolve the ruby in the pear). 



96 MOHAMMED. 

Veiled in long locks inwreathed with beams and 

flowers — ^ 
Shall minister delight ! 

Omnes. The Prophet ! — Allah ! 
Am. {fervently.) But for my honor, I'd cry- 
Allah, too. 
Moh. (returning the standard to Saad.) Amrou, 
thou hast thy answer. To the gates, 
Moslems, and form your ranks ! No wall must rise 
Between us and the foe ; — in open field 
We '11 fight and conquer ! 

(J. clang of arms. Exeunt all but Mohammed, 
to the sound of gong and tymhalon^ 

{Enter Ayesha, U7iperceived.) 
Fight, and die, perhaps ! 
Father of light ! with victory crown me now, 
And, fashioned by my sword, this impious earth 
Shall seem a mighty altar, where mankind. 
Uniting in one universal hymn, 
Echo Heaven's harmony ! — And yet how oft 
Our zealot fervor turns to self-devotion. 
With unsuspected guile ! O, can it be 
Mohammed is the real God I serve ? 



MOHAMMED 



97 



Ayesha {taking his hand^ and gradually em- 
bracing him.) My lord! — pray eye me 
not so sternly ! There — 
I '11 kiss that frown away. Why swells this vein, 
Like a blue snake? — nay, speak — 'tis most 
unkind ! {She ivalks slowly away^ weeping.) 

Moh. Why, child? {Catching her in his arms.) 

Ayes. Thou wouldst not speak ! 

Moh. I did not see thee. 

Ayes. Thy glance was full upon me. 

Moh. But my thoughts ! — 
I was the Prophet then. What brought thee here 7 

Ayes. The shout, and clash of arms. 

Moh. My sweet Ayesha, 
I must forsake thy bosom for the corslet, 
Our chamber for the tent. 

Ayes. War shall not part us. 
I '11 follow thee 'mid flashing shield and spear. 
My breast thy buckler, and my hair thy plume. 

Moh. Ayesha ! 

Ayes. Yes. My infancy was fed 
With tales of glorious war ; and now mine ear 
9 



yo MOHAMMED. 

Grows merry at its music, and my heart 
Pants like the champing steed. 

Moh. But durst thou venture 
These dainty hmbs, this fleecy white and red, 
Where warrior's brawn is taught to tremble? ^° 

Ayes. Yes ! 
Do not my eyes assure thee? — read them well. 

Moh. I see the lioness — the dove is gone. 
Come — thou shalt see the Prophet of the sword. 
Beware, Sophian ! — all the gods of Mecca 
Are not a match for Allah — and Revenge ! 

(^Exeunt Mohammed and Ayesha.) 

{Enter Ali^ armed for battle^ and Fatima.) 
All. Weep not, my angel : it is worse than 
death 
To witness and to cause these tears, that make 
War's once enchanting visage monstrous. Cease, 
Or I will break my scimitar. Oh, Heaven, — 
When every bosom burned, when every eye 
Flamed with fierce exultation at the thought 
Of speedy conflict, as the Prophet flung 
His consecrated banner to the breeze, 
Ali was sad and mute, and hung his head, 



MOHAMMED. 99 

For then he thought of Fatima. Farewell ! — 

(J.5 she still clings^ loeeping^ to him^ he dashes 
his scimitar on the floor ^ 
There! — I '11 not leave thee thus, for all the houris 
In Paradise ! 

Fatima. All! — I 've still a drop 
Of heroism, unconsumed by love, 
And with that drop I thus restore thy honor. 

{J^he stoops^ and hands him his sword.) 
Go, fight thy maiden fight : a woman loves 
Her soldier's laurels, though she dreads the fray. 
And if — and if I never see thee more, 
Fall so that men, when at thy grave I kneel, — 
For I will be thy tombstone, — shall exclaim — 
Behold a hero's widow ! 

AIL No : but earth, 
Ere night, shall hail thee as a hero's bride ! 

(iJe leads her to the door behind, passes to one 
side, and she to the other.) 



Scene II Field of Beder, three stations from Mecca. — Enter 
Scphian, armed. 

Sophian. How all my hopes are rushing to 
fulfilment ! 

Lofa 



100 MOHAMMED. 

Mohammed, ere that smi has set, thy corse 
Shall feed the vulture. 

{Entei^ Caled^ armed.) 
Are my troops arrayed? 

Caled. In phalanx firm, and eager to advance. 
Soph. Think you Medina will defend Moham- 
med? 
Cal I think Mohammed will defend Medina. 

{^Enter Amrou — he tosses the imlm branch l?i the 
air.) 

Amrou. Farewell ! {Drawing his sword.) 

Soph. Well ? 

Am. Well. 

Soph. What answer ? 

Am. {pointing to his sword.) None but — this! 
They scorn, and come to meet us. 

Sojjh. What ! 

Am. Your scouts 
May see them hovering on the desert's rim. 

Soph. It cannot be ! 

Am. It is. 

Soph. His numbers '? 

Am. Not 
A third of ours. 



MOHAMMED. 101 

Soph. And, with this puny force. 
Dare he o'erleap his breastworks, and attack 
Where walled defence were desperate ? 

Am. Even so. 
And hark ! I warn you, be alert and wary; 
Do nought in reckless confidence ; for, urged 
By eloquent and stern fanaticism, 
Each Moslem is a hero; in their eyes 
I noted fire enough to melt our armor. 

Soph. We '11 put it out. 
On, brothers, to the charge ! 
You to your posts, and I to mine. Advance ! 

(^Exit Sophian.) 

Cal. How looks the Prophet? 

Am. As a Prophet should : 
Majestic, undismayed. — as if the God 
He preaches, breathed in him. Sophian's taunts, 
Spurned by his regal smile, recoiled upon me. 
Had you beheld him marshalling his troops, 
Like Heaven-sent victory, you would, with me, 
Regret the chance that points our swords against 
him. 

9* 



102 MOHAMMED. 

Cal Too late! too late!— for, hand to hand, 
I 've sworn 
To meet and conquer, — or declare him Prophet. 

Am. I 've made no pledges: but on yonder field 
I '11 do my utmost 'gamst him. If he fall — 
May Islam perish ; but, if conqueror — 
Amrou's a Moslem! 

Cal. Be it so : and now, 
Our swords shall put this Prophet to the test. 

{Exeunt Caled and Amrou.) 



Scene III. Another part of the field of Beder. — Mohammed 
praying before his tent in the background, loearing his green 
turban, with the crescent in it: he is otherwise completely 
armed, but the armor and weapons are concealed under a long 
ivhite cloak of cameVs hair. — Ali. — Ayesha, armed defen- 
sively. — Zeid and the body-guard drawn up around the tent. 

Ali {advancing.^ O, curse this inactivity ! Con- 
demned ^^ 
To guard a woman, while the battle roars 
A bow-shot hence, and others pluck the laurels 
I cannot strive for ! 

Ayesha {folloiving him.) What a pretty sword ! 



MOHAMMED. 103 

How clean and bright !— bright as thy glancing 
eye. 

All. Bright ! — would it were — 

Ayes. What 7 — out with it ! 

Ali Red ! 
Red as thy coral lips ! — Forgive me, lady, 
But I have promised to achieve a name, 
Ere night, or perish ; and the day declines, 
And hark ! — the contest burns, — whilst I, chained 

here, 
When every Moslem wields a dripping blade. 
Flourish this gewgaw ! 

Ayes. Wouldst thou stain it yonder ? 

Ali. Ay, to the hilt ! 

Ayes. And to the hilt thou shalt ! 
Mark, — thou hast sworn to guard me with thy 

life; 
Young warrior, thou shalt find that he who guards 
Ayesha fills the post of honor. Come ! 
Bring me back safe, and thou hast won a name 
For girls to swear by. {Exit Ayesha.) 

Ali. Hold ! — stay ! — whither now 1 
She answers not, but, beckoning, seeks the point 



104 MOHAMMED. 

Where death erects his throne. I must o'ertake, 
Or lose, with her, my forfeit honor. Stay ! 

(^Exit All) 

Mohammed {coming forward^ AU! my son! 
— By Heaven, he heeds me not, 
But hurries to the centre of the fray : 
Lost in the dust. — Thus fretful youth disdains 
Obedience, when the kindling spirit melts 
The chain of duty. Where 's my eagle Priestess, 
My dark-eyed heroine? — Ayesha! 

{lie is going to the tent^ in quest of her, Enter 
Ahuheker^ with dripping sword.) 
Well) 

Abubeker. They 're ten to one! 

Moh. Where 's Omar 7 

Abu. Everywhere : 
Now, in the van, he holds Amrou and death 
At bay; and now, inspiriting the rear, 
Repels the falcon swoop of Caled. 

Moh. Here : 
To Omar with my body-guard, and tell him 
To win the day without me. 

yExeimt Abubeker^ Zevd^ and body-guard.) 



MOHAMMED. 105 

Is there not, 

At times, foreknowledge in the heart of man — • 
Or, Allah, is it thy imparted prescience 
That fills me with this mighty exultation, ' 
Telling me I must conquer? — Love ! Ayesha! 
i^He enters the tent^ seeking her ; as he comes out^ 

enter Osaid.) 
Osaid. All's lost! O, Prophet— fly! Resist- 
less Caled 
Strides o'er our broken columns to thy tent. 

Moh. {feeling the hilt of his scimitar. ^ He's 

welcome ! Is the banner waving 1 
Osa. Saad 
Upholds it 'gainst Sophian and a host, 
But asks through me for succor. 
Moh. He shall have it. 
(He flings off the cloak ^ and appears completely 

armed J except the head.^ 
Osa. Put on my helmet : thus, thou 'It be the 
target 
For all their arrows. 

Moh. 'T will divert the shafts 
From friends who else might feel them. Lead the 
way,— 



106 MOHAMMED. 

Point out Sophian — vengeance claims me first, — 
Then, Oaled— 

(^Enter Moslems^ fly'^ng in confusion.^ 
There '5 the foe ! Back, Moslems, back ! 
God and Mohammed will support you now ! ^ 

{^Exeunt Mohammed^ Osaid, and Moslems.) 



Scene IV. A nother part of the field. — Enter Amrou, retreat- 
ing before Ali. — Ayesha and Abubeker following . 

Abifbeker. Stop, tigress ! 

{He attemjjts to detain her — she breaks away.) 

Ayesha. Look, they yield ! On, Ali, on ! 

These hands shall crown thee hero of the day ! 

{Exeunt. Alarums. Enter Sophiaji^ retreating 

before Omar. Enter Mohammed. Exeunt 

Sophian and Omar.) 

Mohammed. Eden and all its houris for thy 

place ! 

Omar, he 's mine ! 

{Enter Caled.^ intercepting Mohammed.) 
O, rob me not of moments 
That carry balsam for an age of wrong ! 



MOHAMMED. 107 

Five minutes to o'ertake Sophian — then, Calecl, 
I '11 fight with thee forever. 

Cal No ! 
I have not hewn my way through sword and spear 
To lose thee thus. 

Moh. Beware ! thou art no more 
A noble rival, but a hated shield 
Which I must pierce to reach Sophian' s heart. 

(^They cross sivords.) 
Cal. Pause, and take breath. Thy recent 
charge, 
That scattered us like chaflf, and gained the day, 
Has left thee panting. 

Moh. Thou art weary too, 
For half my slain weigh down thy scimitar.^^ 
( They fight doubtfully and fiercely. Eater Saady 
Osaid, Zeid^ lolth the body-guard — they 'pre- 
J) are to attack Caled.) 
Forbear ! — Who meddles here, offends the Prophet. 
{They fall back. Mohammed disarm,s Caled^ 
and forces him to his knee.^ 
Thy promise, Caled ! 

Cal. Thou hast conquered. Prophet ! '^ 



108 MOHAMMED. 

There is no God but Allah. From thine eyes 
A superhuman lustre shot, and round 
Thy beetling brow a livid halo burned ; — 
And now, with ecstasy in every vein, 
And sweet conviction streaming on my heart, 
I dedicate my body, soul, and sword, 
To Allah and his Prophet ! 

Moh, Rise, and live. 
The bulwark of the faith, the Sword of God ! 

{Caled rises.) 
'T is not a mortal that has vanquished thee ; — 
Legions of angels battled on my side. 
Or else Mohammed were at Caled's feet. 
{To Saad and Osald.) Is Mecca at our gates? — 

We 're soon at hers ! 
Behold thy banner, Caled, — follow me. {E.veimt.) 



Scene V. Mohammed's tent. — Enter Omar, exhausted, wav- 
ing his bloody sword. 

Omar. Victory ! I 've scarcely breath enough 
to shout it. 
1 'm on the winning side — idolatry 
Gasps on her dark and antiquated throne, 
Whilst Islam, like a bold usurper, strides 



MOHAMMED. 109 

To pluck her off. I knew it must be so — 

Fanaticism laughs at triple odds. 

Who says that Omar 's not a Prophet too, — 

The Prophet of the Brain ! — and when my sword 

Has built Mohammed up, my soaring mind 

Shall use him as her footstool. 

(^Enter Mohammed^ Saad^ with the banner^ Osaid^ 
Zeid^ and body- guar d.^ 

Mohammed, Where's Sophian 7 

Omar. Escaped. 

Moh. Reserved for me. 

Om. His squadrons hid him 
From my pursuit ; and now, in full retreat, 
He makes for Mecca. 

Moh. How shall I reward 
The sage, whose valor, like his wisdom, reigns 
Unequalled ? 

Om,. {botoi?ig.) By thy prayers. 

Moh. {aside.) [Dark hypocrite !] 

{Enter Ayesha, her arm bound with her veil, Abu- 

beker, Ali, with Am7'ou prisoner.) 
Blood! — Ali, speak ! — this wound's thy honor's 
grave. 

10 



110 MOHAMMED. 

Ayesha. Pshaw ! 't is a scratch, just such as 
lovers seal ^^ 
Their vows with. Chide him not, for 't was his 

valor, 
Eclipsing precedent, that wrung from death 
The life I now employ to hail thee victor. 

Abubeker. I found my daughter revelling in 
blood, 
As in a bath ^ where'er the foe ranked thickest, 
And men, forsaking hope, embraced despair, 
She plunged as gayl)^ as the roving bee 
Dips in the chaliced flower, bequeathing Ali'^ 
The burthen of her rashness. 

Moll. Could we fail. 
When Heaven fought with us in Ayesha' s face? 
Ali, thou hast a trophy, in her life, 
To which a diamond pyramid were nought. 

Ayes, {pointing to Amroii.) He has another. 

Moh. The ambassador ! 

Amrou. Vanquished in single combat by this 
boy. 
Since Islam works such miracles, I bow 
To Allah and his Prophet. (JHe kneels.) 



MOHAMMED. Ill 

Moh. {raising him.) Live. {To the Moslems.) 
And now 
For Mecca, while the panic shakes her gates. 
The sunbeams that we see upon her domes 
Must tell the skies that they have kissed the cres- 
cent. 
Advance the standard ! Are ye weary ? 

Omnes. No ! 

Caled. We '11 rest in Paradise ! Lead on, O, 
Prophet ! 
I sacrifice, on Islam's sacred altar, 
All human ties — the throe of kindred blood, 
The light of friendship and the flame of love. 
Lead on, where Allah wills — I follow thee ! 

Omar {aside.) [A genuine fanatic] 

Ali. I demand 
The advance. 

Om. 'T is mine : the van is mine, by order. 

Ali. I gained it by the sword, — a better title. 

Om. Unless disputed. 

Moh. Cease this generous strife. 
I give the lead to none : — let him who can. 
Win it, and keep it. He who enters Mecca 



112 MOHAMMED. 

Before Mohammed, shall behold, unveiled, 
The wings of Gabriel. 

{Cymbals and gong. Exeunt Omar, Abubeker^ 

Saad, Osaid, Caled, Am^roti.) 
Ayes, {detaining All.) Let mine image shine 
Before thee on the field. 

All. My fancy moulds 
No image but my wife's. {Exit AH.) 

Ayes, {gazing after him.) Thou darling boy ! 
Moh. {toko has been looking at Mecca, seen in 
the distance, turning to the body-gnard.) Protect 

her ! — Mark me, — if a hair be harmed, 
Your lives shall answer it ! 

( Turning again towards Mecca.) 
My native city, — 

Ill-fated Mecca ! — ere that setting sun 
Glasses his sceptre in the ambient wave. 
Thy blood shall deepen his red glare — thy dead 
Rise in a hill as high as Arafat, 
Topped by thy governor ! — The exile comes ! 

{Exit Moham/med.) 
Ayes. What damsel would not dote on such a 
lord, 



MOHAMMED. 113 

A sculptor's model and a soldier's envy? 

And yet my heart is murmuring '^ Ali — Ali ! " 

{Exeunt Atjesha and body-guard.) 



Scene VL Mecca — sunset. — Square before the Temple. — 
Enter Sophian.^'' 

Sophian. Vanquished — betrayed — undone ! — 

the golden cup 

Of power, with all its sweet ingredients, snatched, 

Untasted, from my lips, — and — oh, ye gods ! — 

To bless the palate of a rival ! Ah, 

Adversity makes women of us all !^^ 

{He leans against the wall. Enter Bedouin.) 

Bedouin. Our only chance is flight — the gates 

are forced. 

Soph. Flight? — can I fly from memory? — 

No — no! 

The recollection of defeat is worse 

Than death, — Mohammed's triumph, hell ! 

Leave me — Amrou and Caled reap success 

To pamper treachery : fidelity 

Deserves impunity, at least. Escape ! 

{The Bedouin stands firm^ with a shrug.) 
10^ 



114 MOHAMMED. 

Well, Stay. — Who 's that ? — the Prophet, by the 

gods ! 
And unattended. Come ! there 's still a chance 
For life and vengeance. 

{Exeunt Sophicm and Bedouin.) 
Mohammed {behind the scenes.) Ha ! you fly in 
pairs. 
I '11 part ye J doves ! 
{Ente?^ Mohammed^ striking down the Bedouin and 

engaging Sophian.) 
Strike harder — harder — harder ! 
My scimitar shakes off thy comrade's blood, 
To feast on thine ! So pale ? — Oh, rather blush : 
I seek thee like a lover, in advance 
Of all my army. Spare the Prophet, trader, — 
Have pity on the exile ! 

{He disarms Sophian. Enter Saad, Osaid.) 
Die, dog, die ! 

{He attempts thrice to kill Sophian, then sheathes 
his scimitar.) 
A reptile's life 's poor vengeance for his sting, — 
A villain's blood, no balsam for his insults ! 
Begone ! the desert be thy dwelling-place ; 



MOHAMMED. 115 

And learn, in exile, to repent the pride 

That dwarfed Mohammed, till he seemed thy rival. 

Soph, {aside.) [O, pardon worse than death ! — 
There 's vengeance yet !] {Exit Sophian.) 

Saad. What ! Canst thou spare Sophian ? 

Moh. {siniling sternly.) To behold 
My triumph, and to wither in its blaze, 
Maddened by shame and impotent despair. 

{Enter Omar and All.) 
Omar. All Mecca huddles, like a flock of sheep. 
Within the Temple, and our foaming troops 
Expect thy signal to avenge the dead. 
All. His silence is the signal. 

{All and Omar are going.) 
Moh. Moslems, hold ! 
An angel's whisper penetrates my heart, 
And turns the fury, that achieved success. 
To mercy, that deserves it. Allah asks 
Repentance, not atonement, — tears, not blood. 
Here was I born — here breathed my earliest 

prayer — 
Each object bears the print of infant hours, 



116 MOHAMMED. 

And, with the scenes, recalls the tenderness 
Of youth.'^ 

My native Mecca, I forgive thee 
Scorn, contumely, banishment, pursuit, 
And in the patriot's love forever quench 
The exile's vengeance ! Moslems — to the Tem- 
ple ! 
Hew down the idols, not the people. 

Abubeker. Ah, what compassion ! 

Ofn. {aside.) [Calculation !] 

Moh. If 
Your swords are not yet glutted — to the desert ! 
And death or Islam for the Bedouin tribes. 

(^Exeunt AH, Omar, Saad, Osaid.) 
Mercy to Mecca makes Arabia mine, — 
I spare my country, but I '11 scourge the world ! 
Still in the prime and majesty of manhood. 
With all the appetites and edge of youth 
Unblunted, — I shall now begin to taste 
The joys a Prophet should. Plucked from their 

thrones. 
Bareheaded kings shall tremble at my feet. 
And queens adorn my bed : the world shall pour 



MOHAMMED. 117 

Her wealth and beauty in Mohammed's lap, 
And 'neath the unsparing scimitar, confess 
The Prophet, Heaven and earth accredited ! 

(^Exit Mohammed.) 
(^Curtain falls.) 



ACT V. 



Scene I. Palace at Medina. — Enter Saad with the white ban- 
ner, Osaid, Caled, Omar, Ali, Amrou, Ahvieker, Zeid with 
hody-guard. — Sound of gong and tymbalon. 

Omar. Again the war-horse shakes his arch- 
ing neck, 
And trumpets echo back his eager neigh : 
The cup of triumph, quaflfed at Mecca's fall, 
Is empty, till the heart's blood of Damascus 
Replenish it. 

Caled. Too long our carnal souls, 
Ensnared by pleasure and ignoble ease, 
Have doted on our gardens and our wives. 
And now, exultingly, I bid farewell 
To gentle dalliance and the palm-tree's shade, 
To toil for Allah in the burning sun, 
And wrestle with the steel-clad infidel.^ 

{Enter Mohammed^ completely armed, with the 
standard of the black eagle.) 
Moham/med. Had monarch ever such a proud 
array — 



MOHAMMED. 119 

Each man a hero, and each troop a host ? 
Damascus totters as I look on ye, 
And, bruised and bleeding, renders to our arms 
The homage she refused our herald. Caled, 
This banner thine, and let our watchword be — 
Islam or death ! (^Giving him the banner.^ 

Omnes. Islam or death ! 

Moh. Then gayly to our enterprise. But first, 
Let piety invoke the aid of Heaven, 
For hell 's against us. Allah, send thy angels, 
Who fought with us at Beder, to infuse 
Celestial vigor in our mortal sinews. 
And strike another blow, to vindicate 
Thy majesty and might ! O, God ! — ^ 

{His head drops; and he sitiks, supported by 
All, Omar, and Caled.) 

All My father ! 

Om. Mohammed ! 

Cal. Prophet ! 

Moh. {starting J and gazing vnldly round.) 
Yes ! — a Prophet still ! {He rises.) 
Unhand me ! Can this momentary faintness 



120 IM O H A M M E D . 

Appal ye thus? — Hold up the standard, Caled, — 
Damascus ! 

(-Se staggers fonoard^ beckoning them o?i, then 
falls back, faulting.) 

{JExeunt, bearijig Mohammed.) 



Scene IL Room adjoining Mohammed^s chamber. — Enter 
Caled and Omar. — Enter AycsJia through Mohammed's 
chamber. 

Ayesha. Softly ! — the opiate just begins to 
soothe him. 

Caled. O, this is sudden ! 

Ayes. No — alas ! Of late 
Oft has he waked me, crying, Mercy ! mercy ! 
And, by the flickering taper, I have seen 
Such ghastly agony upon his face, 
That, though I shrunk, all shuddering, from his 

side, 
I feared to rouse him. 

Cal How the o'ertasked body 
Writhes 'neath the mighty swelling of the soul, 
When face to face with God ! 

Omar {to Ayeslia.) 'T is but thy fancy. 



MOHAMMED. 121 

Ayes. Fancy ! O, would it were ! Last night, 
a groan 
Of mortal anguish froze my blood : I shrieked — 
And then he sprung from sleep as if from torture, 
And with a sigh, that filled the night with horror, 
Fell back exhausted on his pillow. Fancy ! — 
There was no fancy in the reeking brow 
He pressed to mine — so cold — so terrible I 

Cal. I thought these iron cheeks had done with 

tears. 
Om. {aside.) [Can this be poison ?] Something 
must be done. 
Has earth, that teems with balsam for a beggar, 
No herb, no charm, to cure a royal Prophet ! 
Come, Caled, let us publish through the city, 
A thousand purses to the man who cures 
Mohammed. 

Cal. Would my blood could win the prize ! 

{Exeunt Omar^ Caled.) 
Ayes. O, Ali ! what are Paradise and Prophet 7 
One glance of thine surpasses both. 'T is he ! 

{Entei' Ali, going to the chamber.) 
Pause — he is sleeping. 
11 



122 MOHAMMED. 

AH. Is he better ? 

Ayes. Yes. {Ali is going.) 
Stay ! {She detains him.) Dost thou hate me ?^ 

Ali. No : I fear thee. 

Ayes. Why ? 
Pity me rather ! Couldst thou see the struggle 
'Twixt love and duty in a woman's heart, 
Thy scorn might spare her. 

Ali. Art thou not a wife ? 

Ayes. Wedded before she loved, who never 
knew 
The insect's privilege, to choose its mate. 

Ali. Her father's choice must bind a daughter's 
heart. 

Ayes. But not her soul, — 't was not derived 
from him. 
These lips were never meant to sue in vain ; 
These eyes not lighted to inspire contempt ; 
The charms to which thy father is a slave 
May claim a part of All's tenderness. 

Ali {trying to escape.) Away, enchantress ! 

Ayes, (clinging to him.) Pause, too dear magi- 
cian. 



MOHAMMED. 123 

Or hurl me in the dust ! — I will not leave thee ! 

(^She stands before him — he covers his face with 
his hands.) 
Look ! there 's a might of adoration here, 
That shames thy wife's cold homage ! Dost thou 

fear 
To trust thine eyes upon me, Ali 1 

AIL Go — 
Thy thrilling touch is poison ! Go, Ayesha — 
Leave me, in mercy's name ! 

Ayes, {kneeling.) In mercy's name, 
Hear me — then spurn thy victim, if thou canst ! 

{She rises.) 
On Beder's field, a young and artless girl, 
I snatched thy image to my heart, believing 
That I could love thee as I loved a bird. 
Awhile thy beauty nourished in my veins 
A tingling nectar ; but, with lightning speed, 
Affection grew to love, and love to madness ; 
And now, subdued by overwhelming fate, 
Behold my last appeal ! ^ 

{She falls upon his neck.) 



124 MOHAMMED. 

{Enter Mohaimned and Fatima^ through thecham- 
ber.) 

Ali {without seeing them.) Inspire me, Allah, 
And make the husband mightier than the man ! 

{Seeing Fatima^ he flies to her.) 
Thus let me gaze into these starry orbs, — 
Replenished with celestial purity, 
Those chastened beams disarm temptation — thus. 
Thy memory foiled Ayesha, but thy presence 
Is armor 'gainst a goddess. 

Mohammed {looking at Ali.) First, my wife — 
And then my daughter ! 

Ali {kneeling to Mohamm%ed.) Father ! 

Moh. {mocking his tone.) Son ! — Begone ! 

Ali {to Fatima.) Canst thou, too, doubt me 7 

Fatima. When I cease to love thee. 

{Exeunt Ali and Fatima.) 

Moh. And so your love anticipates my death : 
Already you begin to play the widow. 

Ayes. Who doubts me, disbelieves the Koran : 
Gabriel declared me pure. 

Moh. Pure once — but now ? — 



MOHAMMED. 125 

Ayes. As pure as ever. Even were I guilty, 
I never shared thy youth to nurse thine age. 

Moh. This to thy Prophet ? 

Ayes. Yes ! When man discards 
The pearl of chastity, he cannot ask 
His wife to treasure it. Ay, make the earth 
As full of houris as thy Paradise ! 
Free all thy slaves, and marry all their wives ! 
Indulge thy lust — 

Moh. 'T is my prerogative. 
A Prophet 's not a woman, doomed to freeze 
In chaste fidelity to one poor mortal, 
j^^vay ! — {She is going — he stojys her.) 
And yet, — if not in thee, Ayesha, 
Where shall I soothe my agony? 

Ayes. In God. 

Moh. In God ! — {He starts^ and turns away 
with a look of despair ; then recovering.) 
As if I did not ! — O, Ayesha ! 
Thy words destroy the only human prop 
On which I leaned. When writhing on that bed — 
{Pointing to the chamber.) 
When, on my death-sick gaze, the past and present, 
11* 



126 MOHAMMED. 

And all the future, crumbled into ruin — 

The thought that I was loved by thee remained. 

And, like a golden veil, transformed despair ! 

Ayes. I never said I loved thee not. 

Moh. Alas ! 
'T was in the eye, and nearly on the tongue. 
I thought thy smile would kill the frown of death, 

Thy kisses thaw his icy dart, — thine arms 

At least, I little deemed the darling wife, 

On whom I showered the wealth of ransomed 

cities, 
Could turn against me in infirmity. 
Corrupt my dying hour with harsh abuse. 
Excuse her infidelity with insult. 
And force the tear that death would fail to wring ! 

Ayes. By Heaven, I 'm innocent ! 

Moh. Not long — not long 
Thy bondage lasts : Mohammed may not see 
Another sun ! And then, Ayesha, then — 
Ere I am dust, embrace a glowing boy. 
One who deserves thy beauty, and forget 
The mummy that profaned thy charms ! 



MOHAMMED. 127 

Ayes. O, hear me ! 
There 's not a star that purifies the sky- 
More chaste than she whose hght is from thy love ! 
Thou sawest him simulate the anchoret, 
And cast me from him as he felt thine eye ? 

Moh. Yes — and I saw thee hanging on his 

breast. 
Ayes. For he had forced me there. 
Moh. It cannot be. 

Ayes. As I was weeping, at the memory 
Of all thy anguish, with a sudden bound, 
He caught me, stunned and speechless, in his 

arms; 
And as I trembled there, inspired by Heaven, 
Mohammed entered — thou hast seen the rest. 
Moh. Leave me ! — my mind is frenzied with 

suspicion. 
Ayes, (aside.) [Rejected beauty weds revenge. 

Ha! Ali.] {Exit Ayesha.) 
Moh. 'Tis so! — the horrid truth, in livid 
letters, 
Glares full upon me — I am poisoned — poisoned ! 
And by my son — by Ali — to usurp 



128 MOHAMMED. 

Possession of my exquisite Ayesha ! 

'T is poison that has struck Mohammed down, 

Scorching my pinion as I neared the sun, 

In the meridian of my glory, — poison ! 

I thought it was remorse — the curse of God — 

And O ! I will confess, the blow had come 

More fittingly from Allah than from Ali ! 

{^Enter Abubeker^ Saad, Osaid.) 
Saad. How is the Prophet ? 
Moh. Have ye dungeons ? 
Saad. Dungeons ! 

Moh, Select the darkest, and chain Ali there ! 
Saad. Chain Ali there ! 
Moh. A rock can give an echo ; 
But from a man, I want obedience. Go ! 

Abubeker (to Saad and Osaid.) Obey the 

Prophet. 
Moh. Teach them how to do it. 

(^Exeunt Abubeker ^ Saad, Osaid.) 
Remorse or poison, which 7 — by Heaven, I know 

not! 
Ali, I half repent, —it is remorse ! 
Can poison rend the bowels of the past, 



MOHAMMED. 129 

And drag out blood, and blasphemy, and lust, 
And mix them with the brain 7 Can poison shape 
Imposture with its long and demon train, — 
The slaughtered Bedouin and the ravished virgin^ — 
A future pledged to sacrilege and fraud — 
Insulted Heaven and deluded earth? — 
Poison? — O God ! 'twere honey to remorse ! — 
Avenging Allah ! double all my pains ; 
Heap pang on pang, 'till crushed affliction groans ; 
Make every nerve an adder — but shut out 
The spectral, impious landscape of the past ! 

{Enter Caled.) 
Caled. My king ! my Prophet ! 
Moh. Caled, in that room 
My sword hangs, by my pillow : bring it here. 
{Exit, and reenter Caled, with the sword^ whilst 
Moham/med advances, i?i a 7^everie.) 
With this unblazoned sickle, {taking the sword) 

I have turned 
The tide of crushing persecution back. 
And, like the lion, maddening in his lair, 
Have laid the huntsmen at my feet. With this. 
In spite of exile, fraud, and open war. 



130 MOHAMMED. 

I 've founded a religion and an empire. 
Farewell — farewell ! thou keen and faithful friend, 
Blest instrument of Allah, in whose gleam 
My foes expired, like dew-drops in the sun — 
I ne'er shall wield thee more ! i^His arm falls.) 

Cat. O Heaven and earth ! 

Moh. For me, no more the battle-field v/ill 
ring 
With clashing scimitar and victory's laugh ! 
The houris and their groves will soon be mine ! 

Caled 1 leave the state in Omar's hands, 

My Church, {^giving him the sword ) with thee ! ^ 
Preserve, extend the faith, 
Till slave and freemen, serf and sceptred king. 
Do homage at my tomb. Remember this — 
No martyrdom but on the battle-field — 
Islam or death ! 

Cal. {shaking the sioord.) Islam or death ! 

Moh. Then swear that whilst an infidel sur- 
vives 
To taint the renovated earth, this sword 
Shall ne'er be sheathed. 

Cal. (elevating the sword.) I swear it ! 



MOHAMMED. 131 

Moh. Now, I die 

Content. Damascus totters o'er my grave, 

And half the East shall mutter, 'neath thy arm, 

Mohammed is not dead. Go forth and conquer — 

Though throned in Heaven, thy Prophet 's with 

thee still. 

But oh — I 'm sick and weary ! 

(^He sits in the chair. ^ 
Where is Omar ? 

Cal. In search of a physician. 

Moh. What ! — for me 7 — 
Ah, Caled ! {He shakes his head^ with a hitter 

smile. ) I will take no drug but opium, 
Unless your leech agree to lose his head, 
Ox cure me. But I 've medicine for Omar : 
Go, let him know it. {Exit Caled.) 
Death ! if, in thy cells. 
We cease to think, to feel, and to remember. 
Come, thou dear angel, make thy mansion here ! 

{Striking his breast.) 
I look to Heaven — and lightning, leaping forth, 
Writes blasphemy upon its frowning vault ; 
I turn to earth — and all is steeped in blood: 



132 MOHAMMED. 

O'er every limb 't is creeping — creeping — creep- 
ing ! 
It trickles from my hands, imbrues my food. 
Makes midnight scarlet : if I seek relief 
Within myself, insatiate lust erects 
Her speckled crest, and hisses — " I 'm thy God ! " 
(^He rises, and advances.) 

for an eagle's wing to make the grave 

To which I crawl, through poison or remorse ! 
Yet shall I weep and quiver like a child, 
Because his bosom smarts ? — there still remains 
The pride to hide my torments from my friends, 
The fearless forehead and unbroken soul ! 

{Enter Omar.) 
Omar, rejoice! 

Omar. Rejoice ? 
Moh. I 'm nearly dead ! 

Om. Thou canst not die, and leave us deso- 
late? 
Moh. Thy sexton wishes bury me alive. 
Off with the hypocrite, or from thy face 

1 '11 pluck the mask ! I know thee, through and 

through ! 



MOHAMMED. 133 

Om. No ! or thou wouldst not call me hypo- 
crite. 
Moh. Yes! or thy sleek professions would 

deceive me. 
Om. Thou hast forgotten that I pawned my 
life 
To shield thee, in thy hour of doubt and sorrow, 
When Islam was a passport to the grave. 

Moh. I can remember, that when fools despaired. 
The wily Omar, looking out of Mecca, 
Foresaw my triumph, and resolved to share it. 
Om. Thou hast forgotten, that o'er Bcder's 
field 
I poured my blood to save thee from defeat. 

Moh. I can remember, that when others fought 
For me, wise Omar battled for himself. 

Om. Thy Moslems bled for Allah, not for thee. 
Moh. For me and Allah — he includes me. 
Omar, 
The thoughts that charmed my youth, amaze thy 

manhood ; — 
I shaped the future ; thy astonished soul, 

Beholding what it wished, eifected, deemed 
12 



134 MOHAMMED. 

Mohammed but its tool. Through dim defiles, 
I clear a way to everlasting truth, 
Whilst Omar, tiptoe, o'er my shoulder, seeing 
The incarnation of his dreams, exclaims — 
" Well done, my pioneer ! " 

Om. (aside.) [He withers me !] 

Moh. Yet I forgive thy vanity ; it served 
To lull thy jealousy. But I have borne 
Thy sneering homage and insulting praise. 
The self-complacency with which thy eye 
Assumed acquaintance with my inmost thoughts, 
Until repressed disgust has made thee odious. 
Thy prayers, fasts, alms and scimitar, are worth- 
less; 
Thy heart is infidel ! 

Om. By Allah, no ! 

Moh. By Allah, yes ! But Islam needs thy 
greatness ; 
And though, I own, I hate thee, she shall have it. 
A man may be a pigmy to Mohammed, 
And yet o'ertop his fellows. 

Om. {siiicerely.) I believe it. 

Moh. I make thee my successor — thy domain 



MOHAMMED. 135 

Arabia, from Euphrates to our sea ; 

From Arak's sands to Oman's pearls, from Sinai 

To flowering Yemen. 

Om. I am most unworthy 
To wield thy sceptre. 

Moh. Ay, indeed thou art ! 
But 't is a gift, whose precious influence 
Ennobles the recipient. Allah's grace 
Ere long will elevate thy soul : till then. 
Practise austerity, and seem the saint 
You hope to be. I give thee Syria too. 
Now trembling in my grasp, and Caled's arm 
To conquer it. 

On. He shall, at once, complete 
Thy brilliant enterprise. 

Moh. And Syria won, — 
What then? 

Om. {thoughtfully.^ I shall be guided by events. 

Moh. Ha ! ha ! Be guided by events ! Ha ! 
ha! 
What ! when the pliant future will assume 
The form and the complexion of thy will, — 
Be guided by events ! No I tliough the tomb 



136 MOHAMMED. 

Confine my ashes, yet, infused in thee, 
Mohammed's deathless soul shall guide events, 
And regulate the world ! 

Om. {bowing deeply.) Great master-spirit ! 

Moh. I '11 add thy life to mine, and bafile death ! 
In thee, along the subject banks of Nile, 
I '11 nail the crescent to the pyramid : 
In thee, I '11 rob the Persian of his sun. 
And gild him with the purer beams of Islam ; 
The Jew shall cast his musty forms away ; 
The Christian leave his cold, unnatural creed, 
And, clinging to the Koran, spurn the cross. 
My scimitar 's my sceptre ! Be it thine. 
And thy successors' — till the world — the world — 
In love or terror, hail no God but Allah, 
No prophet but Mohammed ! ® 

Om. May the God, 
That fires thy lips, prolong thy life, to see 
The change in Omar ! 

Moh^ 'T were a blessed sight ! 
And hark — one word of counsel : thou canst vault 
Nimbly into my seat, — but hold the reins 
As I have taught thee. Leave me now ! ere morn, 



MOHAMMED. 137 

Medina's magnates shall confirm my choice. 

{^Exit Omar.) 
{Mohammed is seized with a paroxysm of pain.) 
Heaven ! must I suflfer thus, because too proud 
To imitate the Nazarene 1 I sought 
To be his rival — and I am ! at least, 
I shall be thought so — that 's my consolation ! 
Preserve me, God, a Prophet's name on earth, 
And e'en when damned, I '11 celebrate thy justice ! 
And yet, I long — 't were some relief — to cry, 
" Man — man ! weak dupe of blind credulity, 
Thy Prophet 's an impostor ! " — But I 've gone 
Too far, — 'tis now too late: — confession 's worse 
Than condemnation. With my dying breath, 
I '11 fan the beacon of fanaticism, 
And act the Prophet in the throat of death ! 

{Exit Mohanmied.) 



Scene III Vestibule in the palace at Medina. — Enter Omar. 

Om>ar. Felt lover ever such bewitching joy, 

In presence of his mistress, as I feel 

In prospect of a throne ! Can he recover? — 
12* 



138 MOHAMMED. 

'T is possible : — but no — there 's something here. 

{Toiichmg his heart.) 
Yet he may Hnger long — a week is long 
Between ambition and its aim. 

{Enter Abubeker.) 

Abubeke)\ The Prophet 
Has just imprisoned Ali. 

Om. Art thou mad 7 

Abub. The youth 's in prison. 

Om. What ! 

Abub. I turned the key 
Upon him. 

Om.. Do I dream 7 Imprisoned 7 — Why 7 

Abub. I asked no questions. 

Om. Strange! Perchance, — excuse me, — 
Thy daughter looked too tenderly upon 
The stripling. Soft — she comes. 

{Enter Ayesha.) 
Abub. My child, explain 
Why Ali suffers this indignity. 

Ayesha. Because 

{Aside.) [He loved his wife too much, and me 
too little.] 



MOHAMMED. 139 

i^E liter Zeid^ with Sophian^ disguised as an aged 
Egyptian physician.) 

Sophian. I come to cure the Prophet. 

Omar. Hast thou heard 
The penalty ? — faihire is death. 

Soph. I know it : 
And the reward is Heavefi ! 

Om, And, in addition, 
A thousand purses. 

Soph. 'T is not gold I want ! (^Omar starts.) 

Om. Thou canst not cure him, without seeing 
him; 
And, by his order, no physician dare 
Approach him. 

Soph. I am near enough. 

{He produces a small powder.) 
Behold 

A talisman for every malady. 

{Om^r starts again.) 

Ayes, {snatching the poiuder.) The hand of 

woman 's ever half the cure. 

If it should fail, he will not love me less ; 

If it succeed {aside) — [he's more my slave 

than ever.] {Exit Ayesha.) 



140 MOHAMMED. 

Oni. {to Ahubeker.) Imprison this Egyptian, 
and then fly- 
To glad the Prophet with a ray of hope. 

{Exeunt Abubeker and Zeid.^ 
There 's something in that swart Egyptian's voice 

I 've heard before By Heaven, it is — it is 

Sophian ! But his cheeks and wasted hmbs 
Are ravaged, as if centuries had fed there : 
Such changes in an interval so brief? — 
Impossible ! But yes ! despair and exile 
Make minutes years. The talisman is poison ! 
Mohammed, blindly doting on Ayesha, 
Will drink to please her. I can save him yet ! 
It may not be Sophian? — But it is ! — 

{He goes — stops — returns. ) 
O, with what dexterous and graceful ease 
Ambition steps to crime ! And here I stand — 
A villain — but a villain for a throne ! ^ 

{Exit Omur.) 



MOHAMMED. 141 

Scene IV. Hall in the Palace — night. — Mohammed in a 
large chair, supported by cushions : seeing Caled and Amrou 
approaching, he counterfeits sleep. — Enter Caled, Amrou. 

Ami'ou {j/ii a whisper.) An infant could not 

sleep more placidly.^ 
Caled. Hush ! 
{^He places his finger on his lips^ and they retire 

on tip-toe.) 
Mohammed {opening his eyes, and smili?ig ter- 
ribly.) Caled ! 



{Reenter Caled, Amrou.) 
Caled. For the empire of the world, 
I would not thus have shortened thy repose. 

3Ioh. O, I have had a sweet, refreshing sleep ! 
On downy dreams, my youth came smiling back : 
Methought a band of angels fluttered o'er me : 
And some were like my boyhood's playmates, — 

some 
Repeated songs unheard since infancy — 
So soft, so sad ; and, darting from their midst, 
Cadijah, fairer e'en than they, approached. 
In dazzling light and loveliness : she breathed 
Upon my brow ; and, with a glance of love 



142 MOHAMMED. 

Immortal, pointed to the opening Heavens, 
Then, dovehke, vanished in the golden air.^ 
Amrou. Long may such charming visions gild 

thy slumbers ! 
Moh. In Heaven, Amrou, not here ! Man 's 
near the sky, 
When blessed with such a dream. And yet — I 'm 

better — 
Far better — calmer — happier — free from pain. 
What think you, Caled, if before a week 
I head our troops again? 

CaL {with a bright smile.) Take back thy 

sword ! 
Moh. {to Amrou^ waving the sword away^ 
What — moping like a Bedouin! — where 's thy 
wit? 
Am. I lost it when my Prophet lost his health. 
But lead us 'gainst Damascus, and Amrou 
Will sparkle so, that earth, alive with stars. 
Shall charm the winking sky. 

{Enter Abubeker.) 
Abiibeker. A sage from Egypt 
Consents to cure thee, or to lose his head. 



MOHAMMED. 143 

Moh. Egypt ! there 's something in the name. 
Abub. A land 
Renowned for potent charms and magic lore. 
Moh. I 'm sick of drugs and talismans and 
spells ; 
If Allah will not cure. me, Egypt cannot. 
I shall give audience : summon all our council. 

{Exit Abitbeker.) 

{Enter Faiima.) 

Fatima {falling at Mohammed's feet.) My 
royal sire ! 

Moh. My daughter ! 

Fat. Let me share 
My husband's cell ! 

Moh. Forget thou hast a husband. 

Fat. And die ! 

Moh. No tear should glisten for a traitor, 
In eyes as pure as thine ! 

Fat. {springing up.) He 's innocent ! 
Traitor ! — God send thee many such, my father ! 
Was he a traitor when his sword defied 
These scoffers at the banquet, Islam's birth 7 
Was he a traitor when he saved thy life, 



144 ' MOHAMMED. 

By risking his, — when, 'twixt thee and thy grave, 
He reared thy mantle, and drove death away 7 
Was he a traitor on the field of Beder 7 — 

Moh. In heart. I wondered why he fought so 
well. 
Love blinds thee, Fatima. 

Fat. I must be blind. 
I see no pity in the father's heart, — 
I see no reason in the monarch's rage, — 
I see no justice in the Prophet's hand ! 
Canst thou ask mercy from thy God for man, 
Yet spurn thy flesh and blood 7 Beware — beware ! 
The vine, whose treacherous tendrils shade thy 

heart, 
Has poisoned it. 

Moh. Too true ! 

Fat. Then fling it off". 

Moh. I have. 

Fat. Renounced Ayesha 7 

Moh. Ali. 

Fat. God ! {She loeeps.) 

Moh. Thy tears are worth a world of eloquence, 
And all thy mother wounds me from thy face. 



MOHAMMED. 



145 



To prison, then, and bring thy lover here. 

To justify his madness, if he can. {Exit Fatima.) 

Be not amazed till ye have heard it all ; — 

Then gape, and weep, and madden, and revenge. 

{Enter Abubeker, Omar^ Saad, Osaid, Ayesha^ 

with a goblet^ magnates of Medina?) 
What brings thee here, my young enchantress ? 

Ayesha {kneeling.) Love ! 
Drink health and vigor from this bowl, prepared 
With icy cordials, to disguise and aid 
The Egyptian's charm. 

Moh. The withered atoms. 
Preserved, for ages, in a beggar's pouch. 

Ayes. No common charm could move a man to 
stake 
His life upon its efficacy. 

Moh. Ah ! — 
There 's many a man who stakes his life on less. 

Cal. Dear Prophet, I have heard of wondrous 

cures 

Achieved by these Egyptians : there are secrets, 

Bequeathed from wiser ages, charactered 

Mysteriously on their monuments. 
13 



146 MOHAMMED. 

Omar (aside.) [He hangs in doubt — a feather 

turns the scale.] 
Ayes. Drink ! Allah may have sent thee this. 
Moh. No — no! 
I recognize his messengers at once. 
Ayes. Drink, for thy people. 
Moh. Allah will protect them. 
Ayes. Then, for thyself. 
Moh. I need it not. 
Ayes. Why, then — 
For me, — whose anxious love will not resign 
A chance, when in thy favor. 

Moh. {taking the goblet.) As thou wilt : 
A winning angel sits upon thy face. 

Om. {aside.) [He pauses — I can still prevent 
it ! But— 
The throne'?— Well— 't is his gift !— But then, he 
hates me.] 
{Mohammed drinks. — Enter Ali, followed by 
Fatima ; he rushes quickly to Mohammed^ 
and^ snatching the goblet from, his lips, throws 
it on the floor.) 



MOHAMMED. 147 

Moh. What ! not content with poisoning, dost 
thou think 
To rob me of the antidote 7 — Behold 

(To the assembly.) 
My wife's seducer, and my murderer ! 

(^Caledj Omar J and the rest, drawing their scimr- 
itars, spring towards Ali, when Fatim^, fli^ig- 
ing one armj round AWs neck, shields him with 
the other.) 
Fatim^. Strike ! here 's the Prophet's blood, to 
sanctify 
Your weapons ! ^ 

( They falter. Moham/med intervenes. ) 
Moh. (to the assailants.) Patience! — 
{^To All.) Speak! thou shalt not die 
Unheard. Hast thou not poisoned me 7 

All. Great God ! 
I 'd drink a sea of venom, ere a drop 
Should touch Mohammed. There 's the poison — 

there ! {Pointing to the goblet.) 
And thou hast drained it to the very dregs. 

Moh. The Egyptian 

AH. Is Sophian ! 



148 MOHAMMED. 

Moh. Sacred Heaven ! 
Where is he 7 

Ali. In nvy dungeon. 

Moh. (to Saad and Osaid, straining his hands 
convulsively.) Let me see him ! 

(^Exeunt Saad, Osaid. 

Ali, The flaky darkness hid me from his view ; 
And hardly had he entered, than a yell 
Of triumph, bursting from his lips, amazed 
The vault, and frightful blasphemies 
Revealed his name and his design. The walls 
Were stone, or Ali had been here in time 
To save thee. 

{Enter Saad, Osaid, !Zeid and body-guard, loith 
Sophian.) 

Moh. {tearing open Sophian's vest.) 'T is an 
Arab's breast ! 

Sophian (raising a concealed dagger.) And 't is 
An Arab's arm ! — 

(^Ali intercepts the blow, and wrests the dagger 
from him.) 

Moh. Sophian ! 

Soph, {throwing off the disguise.) Ay, Sophian ! 



MOHAMMED. 149 

Doubly prepared, by poison and by steel, 
For vengeance ! 

{Mohammed^ forsaking his hold of Sophian^ 
staggers back to the chair.) 
Ha ! I 've had it. Die, thou monster ! 
Not all the antidotes in earth or Heaven 
Can save thee now ! 

Amrou (^lifting his scimitar.) Then, by thy 
kinsman's hand — 

Moh. Hold ! — 't were a death too easy. 

Soph. Do thy worst ! 
When stripped of all I prized on earth, revenge 
Was left, and made the sultry desert smile. 
I saw thee Avrithing, as I see thee now, — 
The Prophet and his glory at my feet, — 
And then I laughed, and bade thee take revenge 
Upon a ruined and a desperate man ! 

Moh. Poor fool ! 't was Allah sent thee and 

thy venom, 

To end a slow and withering decay. 

Exult no more, for, on my death-bent head. 

Thy vengeance falls like mercy, sweetest mercy ! 
13* 



150 MOHAMMED. 

Away with him ! impale him in the desert, 
And watch him till his dim, protruding eye 
Beholds the vulture that shall pluck it out ! 

Soph. I care not, since I 've crushed thee on 
thy throne, 
And changed the mocking drapery of success 
Into a shroud ! ^" 

Moh. {rising and folding his robe around him.) 
What nobler winding-sheet — 
A Prophet's mantle, and a monarch's robe ! " 
Away with him ! 

{^Exeunt Zeid and body- guards with Sophian,) 
Forgive me, Ali ! {He falls on AlVs neck.) 

Ornar {aside to Abubeker.) [Dolt 
And idiot — thou hast ruined all ! To put 
Sophian in the cell with Ali — j 

Abubeker. Fiend ! 
I see thy meaning ! 

Om. — Might have cost the youth 
His life. 

Moh. Ayesha, here 's my guardian angel — 

{Pointing to Ali.) 
Say — did he tempt thee 7 



MOHAMMED. 151 

Ayes. I am dumb with shame. 
AIL And guilt ! 

{She falls at Mohammed^ s feet) 
Moh. Alas ! — so young — so fair — so false ! 

{He sinks in the chai?\) 
The cup was drugged in hell ! my heart 's on fire ! 

Here, Omar — Abubeker ! 

( They kneel before him.) 
{Looking at Abnbeker.) Innocent. 

{He looks at Omar^ and shakes his head.) 
I doubt thee, Omar. Girl ! {Ayes ha looks up.) I 

doubt thee too. 
{To Omar and Ayesha.) Did ye not recognize 
Sophian? {Abnbeker rises.) 
Om. I? — 
O Prophet ! {He covers his face with his hands.) 
Moh. {sneering.) Ah ! I wound thy tender 
heart. 
Thon couldst not mean to poison me, Ayesha ? 
Ayes. By Allah, no ! 

Moh. {to the assembly.) Hark, Moslems ! when 
a man 
Has injured innocence, the best atonement 



152 MOHAMMED. 

Is to forgive acknowledged guilt, and doubt 

Suspicion's whisper. 

(Tb Omar and Ayesha.) 1 forgive ye both. 

{Omar rises.) 

Ayes. I ask for death, not pardon. 

Moh. {his arm falling on her neck.) Penitence 
Removes the stain of deeper sins than thine. 
Henceforth, my soul must be thy only love.** 

{She rises.) 
Ali, — I give the throne I promised Omar 
To thee. 

All O Prophet ! power is not, for me, 
A thing to live for : be my legacy 
Thy daughter and thy blessing. 

{Mohummed embraces Ali ; then sinks back^ ifi 
anguish.) 

Moh. Then elect a ruler — Allah will direct 
your choice. 
Damascus — Death or Islam ! Fatifna — 
Speak — in the dulcet music of thy voice. 
Let me ascend to Eden. 

Fat. {f alibi g on his neck.) Father ! 

Moh. Daughter ! {He seems to die.) 



MOHAMMED. 153 

Om. (aside.) [He 's gone ! — Well — Omar has 

no master now.] 
{After an interval of silence, in which they are 
grouped over him, he starts up, and they fall 
hack in terror, except Caled.) 
Fat. O God ! 
Cal. A miracle ! 

Moh. {tottering forward.) A pen and parch- 
ment ! 
I '11 write a book as much above the Koran, 
As Heaven above the sea that mirrors it ! 

Ah {he is caught, in falling, by All and Fat- 

ima) this is death ! Now, angel, take my 
soul ! 
{He extends both arins, fixes his eyes above, and 
leans forward.) 
Pardon my sins, O God ! I come, I come — 
Among my fellow-citizens on high ! '^ {He dies.) 
Cal. {falling on the corpse.) Caled 's a broken 

reed ! 
Ali. He 's dead ! 
Om. Thou liest ! 
Entranced like Moses, he will rise again 



154 MOHAMMED. 

In youth and beauty. Infidel, my sword 
Shall teach thee better ! 

( They all star I up^ but Caled.) 
AH (^grasping his scimitar.) Silence, hypocrite ! 
(^Abiibeker and Amrou interpose.) 
Abub. Peace ! in his clay we have a heritage 
Richer than empires ; — let no brawl insult it. 
Released from earth, his soul exults in Heaven ; 
And who would part the Prophet and his God 7 " 
( Omar sheathes his scimitar^ and all boio down 
before the corpse.) 

{Curtain falls.) 



NOTES 



ACT I 



(1.) The family of Hashem, to which the Prophet belonged, 
were all distinguished by a large vein in the forehead : not 
curving, like the Redgauntlet horse-shoe, but straight. 

(2.) Musk is the principal perfume in a Moslem's paradise ; 
and every houri's veil is fragrant with it. For the description 
of the angel, I am indebted more to the elegant poem of the 
disciple, than to the less refined rhapsody of the Prophet. 

(3.) The mountain streams are swallowed up by the sands, 
soon after they reach the plain. 

(4.) Amrou was a wit, a poet, and a soldier ; yet there was 
a certain coarseness in him, inherited from his virago of a 
mother. The conqueror of Egypt, like Omar and Caled, would 
require a separate history to do him justice. 

(5.) In this scene, I have endeavored to represent the state 
of things at Mecca. Mecca was an elective republic, in which 
two rival parties, the Hashemites, led by Abu Taleb, and the 
Ommeyites, led by Sophian, struggled for precedence. The 
Hashemites had long been in possession of the keys of the 
Caaba ; but Sophian, profiting by his adversary's age and 
Mohammed's inactivity, was only waiting the old man's death, 
to leap into power. 

I took the liberty of dropping the paternal Abu that precedes 
Sophian's name, having two of them already. And here I may 



156 ^ NOTES. 

state vrhy " Mohammed" is used in preference to "Mahomet." 
Prideaux uses " 3Iahomet " under protest : so does Gibbon. 
Lane, who was six years in Cairo, says " Mohammed : " Burck- 
hardt, coming from the fountain-head, Mecca itself, confirms 
him. This is, doubtless, the true pronunciation; but custom 
has half incorporated " Mahomet " with our language. " Mo- 
dus et conventio vincunt legem;" and especially after Mr. 
Irving's authority appeared in the scale, was I unwilling to dis- 
pute the maxim. But the root of the word is Ahmed, illustri- 
ous, which gives significance to the name ; and I cannot 
persuade myself to adopt any orthography which slurs over, 
and, in fact, omits, such an important element . 

(6.) At first, our Saviour was Mohammed's model, and the 
fiery Arabian actually professed the sweet Christian submission, 
as appears in parts of the Koran. Islam, itself, means submis- 
sion : the name was badly chosen. 

(7.) Some say it was a sumptuous banquet ; others admit 
but the lamb and milk. The latter being more poetical, and 
the weight of authority equal, I chose the Bedouin fare. 

(8.) The horse of Nejed is the finest in the world, if Burck- 
hardt's testimony outweigh Gibbon's. 

(9.) " Is for the spirit, not its day compa7iio7i." — This pretty 
circumlocution for body, is taken from a strange song, composed 
by one of the poor Sandwich Islanders, whose clay companions 
are vanishing fast enough. 

(10.) Mohammed's vindication of himself is collected, almost 
literally, from the Koran, scattered here and there over many 
chapters. I admit copious plagiarism from the Koran, and 
shall not always embarrass the text by a note to point it out. I 
wish I had sinned oftener on this point : others may wish so too. 
Would it were the only sin ! 



NOTES. 157 

In the first scene, Cadijah appears in the eave of Hara • 
though, according to a historian too apt to sacrifice literal truth 
to poetic pointedness, she was out of place. Gibbon describes 
it as a solitude to which Mohammed, during the month of Ram- 
adan, M^ithdrew " from the world and the arms of Cadijah." 
But Sale, a far better authority on this point, says, in his pre- 
liminary treatise — " That, having retired, with his wife and 
family, as he had done several times before, to the cave in 
Mount Hara, he there opened the secret of his mission to his 
wife, Khadijah." 



ACT IK 

(1.) The Black Stone, supposed to have fallen from Heaven. 

(2.) The miraculous well of Zem-Zem, whose waters are 
still piously bottled by the pilgrim. The name imitates its 
bubbling. 

(3.) " There were three hundred and sixty idols in the tem- 
ple — men, -eagles, lions and antelopes." — Gibbon. 

(4.) Mohammed was often subjected to this reproach, and 
dreaded it. It was too true, not to be excessively annoying. 

(5.) Abu Taleb is the most beautiful character in the history 
of Mecca. Under his firm, benignant guidance, the city enjoyed 
almost uninterrupted peace. His very infidelity has a noble 
constancy in it •, and though his clear reason rejected his 
nephew's visions, his good heart did not permit him to forsake 
his fortunes. Even to this day, the mutilated tomb of the 
patriarch, at the termination of the Mala, shaded by date-trees, 
and cooled by a fountain, is pointed out with reverence ; and 
an oath by Abu Taleb is more sacred than an oath by Allah. 

14 



158 NOTES. 

(6.) " And if I bring 

A nation to adore thee, shall I not 
Deserve the splendid title I usurp, 
And bt the Prophet I pretend to *e ? " 
This, I conceive to be Mohammed's delusion. Under any other 
view, this sincere impostor continues a mystery. 

(7.) In the presence of angelic visitants, the Prophet could 
not always suppress a curse : he might possibly have been 
equally unguarded before his wife. Abubeker's residence was 
near the Prophet's, in the street now called Zobak el Merfek, 
'' The Street of the Stone." 

(8.) Unlike Lethe, this spring revived the past. Moham- 
med's surprising memory was ascribed to his diligent use of its 
waters. 

(9.) "That make ambition virtue." — Another proof that 
rhythm often suggests a thought, as well as rhyme. Cadijah's 
fever is too perceptible in her jumbled metaphors. 

(10.) The construction of this scene would have been differ- 
ent, had the play been designed for the closet. 

(11.) Tayef is seventy miles from Mecca. In the sixth 
century, it was celebrated for its gardens and grapes ; and, 
though sadly defaced by those Eastern Vandals, the Wahabees, 
its fruits and roses are still famous throughout Arabia. 

The style of the Meccan is manly and frank ; free from affec- 
tation, and the very opposite of the flowery language of Syrian 
and Persian. But Ali and Fatima are lovers ; and love has a 
ridiculous style of its own, pretty much the same, all the world 
over. 

(12.) The pictures of hell and paradise are collected from 
the Koran. Prideaux, I find, has done the same, but without 



NOTES. 159 

making a very important distinction, which throws light on the 
Prophet's character. Mohammed's Paradise was not a mere 
harem until long after Cadijah's death, until the cross of resig- 
nation was thrown aside for the scimitar. I reserved the 
sensual element for the fourth act. 

(13.) " Should sottish Mecca wax too dangerous." 

Mecca w^as called " The Illiterate," whilst Medina rejoiced in 
the name of " The City of the Book ; " obtaining her superiority, 
perhaps, from the number of Jews and Christians mixed with 
her population. If, as Prideaux says, when Mohammed began 
to preach, only one man in Mecca could write, the poems of 
Ali and Amrou must have been oral. 
(14.) ^'l am a Prophet now ! 

I hail, in this success, achieved by thee. 
Thy recognition ; and, once recognized. 
Imposture ceases. Say, thou viewless King, 
Does not the man, who, rising, self-impelled, 
Plucks from thy throne the mantle he has earned. 
Excel the infant Prophet who receives 
The unmerited distinction in his cradle ? " 
This completes the view taken of Mohammed's original pur- 
pose. Our Saviour is still his model, but he hopes to surpass 
him. If he did not reason thus, I cannot sift his delusion, and 
give up the riddle in despair. 

(15.) " She shall not die, by Heaven ! " 

" He shall not die, by God ! " exclaimed my uncle Toby. The 
accusing spirit, Ace. 



160 NOTES 



ACT III. 

(1.) The succession to the government of Mecca was not 
hereditary, but remained in the same tribe only as long as the 
power of that tribe preponderated. After the death of a sherif, 
whoever had the strongest party, or public voice, in his favor, 
became the successor. There were no ceremonies of installa- 
tion, no oath of allegiance. — Biirckhardt. 

(2.) " A fly's pollution." — This strong expression is in the 
Koran. 

(3.) Caled was the ablest soldier in Arabia, and the conqueror 
of Syria and Persia : fanaticism rendered him invincible. He 
is the highest type of those bold believers, who, leaving their 
native sands, carried the crescent over the fairest portions of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa. Men Uke him were ripe for Islam : 
Mohammed had but to say the word to the age — the word they 
were longing for, without being able to pronounce it. 

(4.) It is commonly thought that the Arab resembles the 
Turk : but Mecca has none of the silent, grave automatons so 
common in the Levant. In the street, bazaar, house, or mosque 
itself, the Meccan laughs and jokes, and the gravest subject is 
spiced with a proverb or a pun. Amrou is not too merry for an 
Arab, though too insipid for himself. 

(5.) " Strike, but hear ! " — he might have heard of Themis- 
tocles. 

(6.) " We '11 meet them man to man, and horse to horse." — 
After writing this, I found it, word for word, in Massinger's Maid 
of Honor.- How Homer sticks ! 

(7.) These miracles are gravely reported to have happened. 
It requires an Aurora Boreahs, a cold night, and an earthquake, 
to explain them. The following one is not so easily got over. 



NOTES. 161 

(8.) The beauty of the Koran was the great argument for its 
inspiration : in the translation, it is surely not alluring enough 
for the devil. 

(9.) Throughout this scene, Omar expresses the exact condi- 
tion of Arabia more briefly and clearly than I can in prose. 
Abubeker was the richest man in Mecca. 

(10.) The conviction of a strong mind is apt to carry faith to 
a weaker one. 

(11.) It was only in success that Cromwell believed himself 
an instrument in the hand of God : fanaticism grows sceptical 
under defeat or disaster. Cadijah had scarcely reached the 
Tuba tree, before her Prophet consoled himself with Zeid's 
pretty wife, Zeinab. She is in his mind when he adds — 

" Ah, woman's smile transmutes ! " 
More of this was originally written ; but it is not very edifying 
to follow the Prophet too closely. 

(12.) Whenever he desponded, as often happened, he sought 
comfort in the cleft of the Blountain of Light, where Gabriel 
once appeared, revealing the chapter of the Koran, beginning — 
" Have we not gladdened thy heart ? " 

(13.) This stratagem was, in fact, pursued, and might easily 
succeed, as the streets of Mecca are totally dark and un- 
guarded. 

(14.) The sherif, in the height of his power, resembled a 
great Bedouin chief, who submits to be boldly, and often 
harshly, addressed. — Burckhardt. 

(15.) Eating camel's flesh is supposed to impart that animal's 
revengeful nature. 

(16.) The Mohammedan doctors, with considerable subtlety, 
justify this revolution in their Prophet. They say, that " the 
14* 



162 NOTES. 

Prophets of God are of divers sorts, according to the divers 
attributes of his Divine nature which they are sent to show 
forth. That Jesus Christ manifested the Righteousness of God 
in being impeccable ; his Knowledge, in knowing the secrets of 
men's hearts, and foretelling things to come ; and his Power, in 
doing those miraculous truths, which none but God could do. 
That Solomon was sent to manifest the Wisdom, the Glory, 
and the Majesty of God j Moses, his Providence and Clemency. 
None of which carrying with them a power to force, men to 
believe, miracles were necessary, in their mission, to induce 
belief. But Mohammed was sent to manifest the Fortitude of 
God by the Power of the Sword, in itself sufficient to compel all 
men into the faith ; he wrought no miracles, because he needed 
none." {Prid. 34, 35.) By the same logic, the lion is a 
prophet of the power of God : Scipio and Caesar certainly are. 
A much more natural solution is, that this ambitious rival 
of our Saviour found himself unequal to persecution, and that, 
panting for revenge, he thus sought to justify it. As we have 
seen, he once insisted on submission and forgiveness, as willed 
by Heaven ; but the repealing power he claimed and exercised 
made the Koran fully as uncertain as our modern statutes. 



ACT IV 



(1.) " La persecution fit toujours ma grandeur." 

La Fanatisme. 
(2.) '' Who piously preserve each falling hair ; — 

Ay, e'en my spittle." 
Sale records these instances of devotion. 

(3.) " Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet." 



NOTES. 163 

(4) " the flowery roof 

Showered roses which the morn repaired." 

Paradise Lost, Book iv. 
*' Repair ^^ is a favorite word of Milton's, and he always uses it 
exquisitely. 

(5.) A torrent in the Hejaz is a liquid simoom, and comes 
with the swiftness of an avalanche. In 1626, the mosque 
filled so rapidly that five hundred persons perished in it. 

(6.) This is a fair sample of what is '' ni vers, ni proseJ' 

(7.) " And fear the Allah whom he will not love." 
Voltaire may have had a hand in this line. 

(8.) With this expression on his lips, a nephew of Caled's 
once rushed, singly, into an army of infidels ; and, falling a 
victim to his rashness, had his wish gratified, in part. 

(9.) " Bind their resplendent locks, in wreathed with beams." 

Paradise Lost. 

(10.) Ayesha, of course, was not in Mohammed's early hat- 
ties ; but we often find her on the field, in the wars that followed 
his death. 

(11.) Ali was posted, with a reserve, on a hill, still pointed 
out to the pilgrim. 

(12.) '' God and Mohammed will support you now." 
There is a resemblance between this and an answer which has 
recently become a part of American history. 

(13.) " Some undone widow sits upon my arm, 

And takes away the use oft." 

A New Way to Pay Old Debts. 
The passage in which this occurs, is one of Massinger's hap- 
piest. He may have remembered the " Sit heavy on thy soul 
to-morrow!" 



164 NOTES. 

(14.) " Vicisti Galilei!" — "God," says Sharestari, "placed 
this prophetic light on Adam, to be a sign of the prophets that 
were to be born of him. It was subsequently divided into 
Isaac's light and Ismael's light : the former appearing in our 
Saviour ; the latter in Mahommed." — Prid. 9. 

(15.) Arabian lovers, like Aurelia, in Wilhelm Meister, 
thought It necessary to seal their vows by drawing a little 
blood. 

(16.) " His steeds to water at the springs 

In chaliced flowers that lies." 

(17.) Mecca happens to be ten days' journey from Medina ; 
but, viewed at this distance, they may approximate. Parallels 
meet in infinity. 

(18.) " Adversity makes women of us all!" — Conscience 
makes cowards too. 

(19.) The spot where Mohammed was born is now called 
" Moled e' Nebby," in the street of ''Haret Souk el Leyl,''^ in an 
extensive garden on the east of the city. — Burckhardt. Medina 
was always jealous of the Prophet's tenderness to his native city. 



ACT V 



(1.) A Moslem, one day, feasting under a date-tree with his 
wife, chanced to see the Prophet going forth to battle on a 
camel. Animated by the sight, he armed himself, and in.stantly 
followed his self-denying master. 

(2.) I have made remorse the main cause of Mohammed's 
mental agony ; but I do not mean to exempt him from the 
physical prostration of epilepsy. It is most likely that he mis- 
took " the falling sickness " for poison, which he imagined was 
administered to him by the Jewess of Chaibar. 



NOTES. 165 

(3.) Prideaux says, that Ayesha hated Ali, "because he 
acquainted Mohammed with her inconstancy :" it may have 
been her inconstancy in soliciting him. Ali was not the man 
to be hated by a young woman, unless she had first loved him. 
The history seems to wink that way. 

(4.) Mohammed must have been easily blinded by Ayesha, 
since, wdth the fullest proof of her guilt, he makes Gabriel 
testify to her innocence, and died with his head on her bosom. 

(5.) ''My Church — with thee!" — Caled was a worthy 

priest, according to the order of the sword, and was baptized 

in blood, — " The sword of God,"— at Muta. In the first draught 

of the play, the battle was thus described, versified from Gibbon : 

Saad. On Muta's heath the Christian dogs encamped : — 

Victory or Paradise ! we cried, and charged. 

Our valor matched their numbers, till our bravest, 

Weary with slaughter, sunk, and slept in Heaven. 

Zeid, hacked to pieces — both arms gone — embraced 

The standard with the bleeding stumps — then fell 

A corpse. 

Mohammed. Ay, liberty works miracles, 

As well as sanctity. Proceed I 
Saad. We stood 

Aghast, and meditating flight, when Caled, 

Striding his fallen friend, caught up the banner, 

And hurled their legions back. His falchion flashed 

Like an avenging angel, self-impelled. 

Nine swords he shivered on the foe, — the tenth 

Dispersed them ! 

(6.) In eighty years, Islam conquered more territory than 
Rome in five hundred. This passage may seem to be taken 
from '' La Fanatisme," but it was written before I read Voltaire. 



166 NOTES. 

I abstained from reading him ; not to be original, but that I 
might not force unnecessary differences. Though infinitely 
inferior to him, it is not as an imitator. 

(7.) I cannot help thinking that Omar was a hypocrite, and 
good old Abubeker his innocent tool. 

(8.) It will be observed, that the action throughout is chiefly 
at night. Little business, private or public, is transacted at 
Mecca or Medina, until after sunset. 

(9.) The pious Hadjy, when saluting the Prophet's tomb, at 
Medina, never fails to address a prayer to Fatme e' Zohera, the 
bright, blooming Fatima. 

(10.) Sophian's somewhat questionable courage has been 
fortified by despair. 

(11.) " KaXXicrov svruipior \ Tu^arnc," was the advice of a 
high-minded courtier to the Sicilian tyrant, when asked which 
was preferable, death or flight. 

(12.) " Henceforth my soul must be thy only love." — None 
of his wives were permitted to marry again. This punishment, 
so far as concerned Ayesha, was rather formal than real. 

(13.) " Pardon my sins, O God, — I come — I come — 
Among my fellow-citizens on high." 
These are literally his dying words. The death-scene is accu- 
rately true to history. 

(14.) There is no howling for the dead at Medina : it is con- 
sidered disgraceful even to moan. 



APPENDIX. 



" The Life and Religion of Mohammed, as contained in the 
Sheeah Traditions, Translated from the Persian, by Rev. James 
L. Merrick, eleven years Missionary to the Persians, Member 
of the American Oriental Society," fully sustains the view I 
have taken of Omar, and of his influence over Abubeker. Be- 
fore the publication of this valuable work, there was nothing in 
the language to warrant my interpretation of Omar's character, 
but his admitted jealousy of Caled and Amrou. As Omar was 
not meant for a fancy sketch, Mr. Merrick's recent testimony 
to the fidelity of the portrait is most welcome. But I shall ever 
regret that the rich fields of eastern imagery, presented by Mr. 
Merrick, in his elegant translation, were not sooner opened. 



/wi 






